Infinite Links
by NickTheHun
Summary: A Wild Card that gained power long before his story started seems fair. Ichika, Dan and Ran were having a good time making the cognitive and real world a better place. But when Ichika started piloting women only Mecha's, his journey had truly begun. The Phantom Thieves will have their revolution, whether the world or secret conspiracies want it or not. Ichika/Harem, P5 Spoilers, AU
1. Infinite Links

AN: I wonder how far I will go with this, ah well, if I'm going to make a story I'll at least ensure I have all the elements set up. Or at least, for what I can bother to think of. Ichika is going to be a person with the most gender imbalanced social links collection, ever. I already planned all the links, man, poor guy.

 **Infinite Links, oh dear...**

 **A certain place between dream and reality, mind and matter**

"How… unusual. I can safely say that I did not expect you to arise from the Sea of Souls to speak with me." A bizarre-looking man greeted courteously while sitting on a certain velvet couch to the robed man that appeared in front of him.

"Different seasons call for different actions. Unfortunately, this particularly season is one that shall end with calamity." His surprise guest spoke slowly, equally as calm and courteous as the Proprietor of the Velvet Room.

The grey robe covered the entirety of the man's body below his neck, a long grey beard and a similarly grey-colored hood covered his head.

The most discernable features were his wrinkled and expressive face, his brown eyes and strands of grey hair behind his head not hidden by his hood.

As for the more bizarre looking man that was sitting down, he was wearing a formal grey suit, white gloves, and a clean white handkerchief in his front pocket.

The most unique feature of his appearance the very long nose, next to that, were his pointed ears and large eyes.

"Ah, yes. The cards have foretold as such." Spoke the long-nosed man, before looking down to release a sigh of disappointment.

"Then it's time make fate change it's course… or at least, realign it in such a way that victory is possible." The older robed man stated with conviction, before trailing off at the more moderate words used later.

"That would be interfering with humanity." His conversation partner that looked stranger than him, replied with an amused smile.

"That sounds familiar… isn't that what your master and his nemesis were up to since the beginning of time? Must I remind you of the boy who was fated to die the moment that thing was sealed into him?"

"Touche… I sense that you desire to propose a plan of action."

"Certainly so. To put it in as few words as possible, I propose we give him a 'head start'."

At the standing man's proposition, the long-nosed man could only chuckle before agreeing.

"*Chuckle* Yes, that should even up the scales quite a bit. And I suppose that you are volunteering?"

Shrugging, the robed man grinned, thinking back to an important moment of his life.

"How could I not? A chance to be 'born again' brings back good memories. Of course, I do have some pride as a 'learned' man during my time."

* * *

 **In a warehouse, somewhere...**

The boy felt weak.

It was not a condition borne from physical weakness.

Whilst physical reasons were the cause of his predicament, it was something else that battered the boy into such a sorry state.

The boy cursed his own weakness, in his mind and with his tongue.

Those words were like a curse upon himself, chaining his mind and body in a way that his physical bindings of rope could not.

'Had I been stronger, then Chifuyu-nee would not be in trouble.'

His mind drifted back to his abduction, masked professionals had busted down his door and by the time he noticed, he had chloroformed cloth over his face.

'If I had been more aware, If I was smarter, If only I was stronger…"

Then he would not be such a burden, the boy thought.

'If I hadn't let myself be kidnapped…"

His kidnappers were waiting patiently, leaning or sitting on some crates within a warehouse with the lights dimmed. They were chatting on various things, mostly about their little job.

"How long more do we have to watch the brat for?"

"Until the boss gives us the signal to pull out? Duh!"

"Eh? I bet some good money over Orimura Chifuyu losing this Mondo Grosso version 2. I say the signal is when my bank account gets updated."

"Damn, I should have thought of that! Could have made some money over that monster forfeiting to save her little brother!"

"Shouldn't we, I don't know, just run? I mean, she IS the best IS pilot in the world."

That one mercenary, who was the voice of reason, was left unheeded by his associates.

"... I'm just going to take a toilet break." The man with common sense decided to take a very long toilet break, along with his car keys. His compatriots didn't particularly care.

A genius (Tabane-nee to the boy) was able to make a powered exoskeleton suit called "Infinite Stratos" (IS).

She revealed its power a few years ago in an incident everyone dubbed the "White Knight incident" where a single IS suit (piloted by a certain Chifuyu-nee) stopped over 2000 ballistic missiles single-handedly, in addition to defeating the world's combine military effort to apprehend it - without any human loss of life.

Then, the blueprint of the IS was distributed evenly over the world with the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction.

In addition, the suit may not be used for militant combat as dictated by "Alaska treaty".

On a side note, only women can pilot an IS.

In theory, the introduction of the suit should bring peace and happiness to the world.

But of course, the nature and desire for war never changes.

The only thing that had changed were the 'means' of war.

The Mondo Grosso tournament, was pretty much a global replacement of war using 1v1 battles between IS pilots to showcase a country's superior power… among other things.

'A person like me is just a burden to others, to Chifuyu-nee.' In the meantime, the boy, Orimura Ichika, continued to curse his own weakness. He hated this feeling of being an unnecessary yoke upon his sister, preventing her from achieving glory and success.

He knew his sister, she would come for him even if the world gave up on him.

A headache came upon him, suddenly, filling him with great pain.

"Uargh!" He grunted.

 _ **"So you will give up then? Do you intend to always be a good little hostage? To people who hold weapons to your head or threaten what you believe in?"**_

A voice rang through his head, it sounded like a calm, collected and kindly old teacher much like the one he had in his elementary school asking him questions that should lead him to an answer.

'No….No, Nonono!' How could he answer anything else? He yelled in his mind.

 _ **"Then what will you do? When the world attempts to crush you, will you lash out? Will you cower? Or perhaps, buy time and strike at the most opportune moment?"**_

Having grown up with his stern sister, along with the fact he lived in a country that emphasized the needs of societal order more than the individual, the normal answer that he would have hated would be to 'cower'.

But lashing out blindly would also result in mistakes, pain and even death.

'The last one of course! It's the least dumbest choice. I was already dumb enough back then…'

 _ **"They are distracted right now. What will you do?"**_

Looking up, Ichika could see that they were indeed, not noticing or bothering with him at all.

Resolve filled his heart, body and spirit.

'I'll get out of this mess myself! I swear it!'

 _ **"I see. Your prayers have been heard."**_

As the voice in his head completed that sentence, pain coursed through his body like electrical iron rods were inserted into his spine.

"HaaarrgGGHH! UAAHH!" Ichika screamed loudly.

"Oi, someone shut him up!" Some mercenary call out from behind some crates while he was smoking a cigarette.

"You wanna kick a kid while he's down?"

"...Point."

 _ **"This is our covenant then. To put it in simple terms, a contract."**_

 ** _"I am Thou, Thou art I…"_**

 ** _"Be reborn in spirit.  
_**

 ** _For what you believe is worth fighting for, you will hide among your enemies with duplicity._**

 ** _And when you have become learned, apply wisdom and strike at their hearts!"_**

"Ha… that's enough already." Ichika finally muttered after he stopped screaming.

"Hmm, what's with this kid-" The mercenaries were caught off guard as Ichika's body became engulfed in white flames, before the flames exploded outwards, pushing everyone and everything around it to several meters back!

 ** _"Call my name."_**

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you loud and clear." The small figure who re-emerged from his flame covered body, came back with a mask on his face and without his rope bindings.

And the boy, was smiling calmly, creeping his abductors to no end.

To a group of trained men, staring at a child they had kidnapped that had suddenly displayed supernatural powers had shaken them into a panic, but they still managed to default on their Modus Operandi.

"S-shoot him!" Namely, by shooting something to death.

"Too late!" Ichika declared and tore off the mask on his head, noting the pain but paid it no mind.

His body was once again wreathed in flames, his eyes briefly turned gold before fading back to it's natural color as a robed figure formed behind him.

 _ **"I am, a Judge of the Sanhedrin and Embalmer of the Messiah, Nicodemus! Now be judged by the Law that God has laid forth!"**_

 **"Makouha!"**

 **Arcana List**

 **Nicodemus - Orimura Ichika (Fool)**


	2. Stealing Treasure? Easy Real Life, Hard

AN: The metaverse will work differently here, Persona users are definitely more powerful... or rather, their abilities are scaled to the crazy feats they regularly do while fighting with quite a bit of limits in real life. Yes, Valentine's Day is going to end in a global world war at this rate. In this case, Ichika's core character of forgiveness and all will be the same (mostly), but overall, this Ichika is just book smart to a ridiculous degree and he's basically not rich Batman. The protagonist of Persona 5 was just too awesome, so take a bit of that awesome and mix it with Ichika, I guess a rather competent and active protagonist will be formed... as soon as he figures out what the hell he wants to do outside of stealing treasures.

 **Stealing Treasures is easier than Real Life!**

 **6 years later...**

 **Metaverse, General Zhou Ling's Palace, China**

Breaking into a sprint, his eyes locked onto the six security cameras lining the long hallway, quickly scanning for their line of sight and blind spots.

Reaching down to his belt with his right hand, he took hold of his self-modified Sig Sauer M17 and turned the safeties off.

He rushed, bent down and slid on the grey floor, barely making it to the blind-spot of the first camera.

Taking aim, he shot and destroyed the camera nearest to him before using his prodigious aiming skills to take out the rest of the cameras.

"Samurai! Hime! Camera's are out, the safe room is just up ahead." The young man called out to his two fellow infiltrator's code-names.

It would not do to use their real names in the cognitive world on the off chance that there might be observers. Of course, they could shed their disguise and formalities a bit once they reached to the safe room.

At their leader's signal, two red-haired teenagers emerged from the entrance of the hallway, having stayed back to keep guard over any Shadows that threatened to spawn in their target's Palace.

One of the teenager's was a young man the same age of the professional shooter (albeit his own skills in shooting wasn't far off considering his name's meaning) of the team, wearing antique Edo-period Samurai Armour for his costume with a black half-face plate that covered his upper half of his face. Some of his long red hair could be seen despite the large neck guard.

The other teenager was a very slender girl with the same long scarlet red hair of the young man, her attire consisted of a loose fitting short purple kimono with long sleeves, the robe ending halfway between her knees and waist. A white half-face fox mask with red lines covered the top of her face. Her legs covered by tight black leggings and she wore a pair of purple sandals on her feet. Overall her outfit resembled that of some fanservicey female japanese warrior from a Toei Musou Game, much to her chagrin.

Gotanda Dan and Gotanda Ran, a typical older brother and younger sister pair.

What was less typical was the fact that they are long time accomplices of the infiltration leader, Orimura Ichika, Code Name: Judge (His third code name, he just couldn't decide what he liked more)

"No alarms blaring an eardrum shattering alert. Guess that means we're in the clear, eh?" Dan, Ichika's best bro for life, commented in a laid-back manner that contrasted the serious nature of his costume.

"That, or that helmet of yours is so tight to the point where it's soundproof." Orimura Ichika quipped with a joking smile.

In contrast to the Japanese costumes of his two partners, his battle attire consists of a white, double-breasted trench coat, which has a "0" symbol on the middle to represent his Fool Arcana, with large buttoned cuffs and lapels, white trousers, and trench boots. Over this, he wears a tattered, ankle-length black cloak, and is fastened to the left with a single large button. Over his face was a black, bird-shaped mask with white highlights.

To many onlookers, it would have looked like a Nazi uniform designed by Hugo Boss with unfortunate implications. However, the young man wearing such an outfit was far from those sort of people personality wise.

Still, it was definitely 'Final Boss' worthy clothes.

Ichika still thought it was ironic that his costume would invoke Nazi imagery despite his initial Persona being Jewish. Then again, Nicodemus always did play along with the rest of the Pharisee's while keeping his real beliefs hidden. Ichika still hasn't figured out why his costume looked this way.

Ever since they got their powers, entering the Metaverse would automatically grant their costumes and masks.

"I heard your signal, didn't I?" Ichika's friend replied.

"Nah, you just followed your sister when she heard me calling out." Ichika insisted in a non-serious manner.

"Yeah! Onii's hearing is seriously damaged from playing video games with maximum volume." His younger sister snickered from beside her brother.

"The two of you really aren't going to let me off the 'Oven' incident anytime soon, are you?" Dan asked in a resigned tone.

"Nope! I almost got turned into a meal."

"Do you know how annoying it is to explain a sudden tan in front of my classmates?"

Ichika and Ran complained at the same time before glaring at Dan, remembering some horrible experiences from the last Palace they invaded.

"Well, I saved you both from Vitamin D deficiency." Dan waved it off.

"The whole school was bugging me over it for days." Ichika reminded Dan.

"And they also wondered if the both of us went to the beach together alone…" Ran muttered softly, remembering the insinuations of her classmates that she didn't particularly would have minded.

"What was that?" Ichika asked, not hearing what she had said.

"Nothing!" She dismissed.

"For the love of all the gods out there please get a girlfriend soon." Dan groaned.

"I really don't think it's that easy to get a girlfriend. All the girls seem to gossip and stay away from me." Ichika replied, unknown to him, it was mainly because every girl in his middle school was fangirling over him and that there were some 'unwritten rules' to associating with him.

The only exception was Dan's younger sister since they were already friends before Ichika got super popular for reasons unknown to him but known to the rest of the school.

"Haaaa…" Ran sighed listlessly as she walked over to the door, into the safe room.

"Did Ran just sigh? Oh crap, I think she's got the despair ailment. Where's that 'Happy Pop'!?" Ichika ran into the safe room while rummaging through his small but larger on the inside pouch for the despair curing lollipop.

"Poor Ran…" Her brother shook his head before going into the safe room, finding Ichika insisting rather physically that his sister should open her mouth for him, holding an unwrapped Happy Pop in his hand.

Naturally, he face palmed as his sister began misinterpreting his words in a lewd manner.

After a few minutes of resting, they began discussing strategy.

"Alright, we still have a bit of time left and very little ground left to cover. According to the maps we gathered, the command room is just up ahead. Dan, Ran, are you two up for pushing on? If all three of us don't think we're ready to take General Zhou Ling's treasure then we should head back for now." Ichika asked his two fellow Persona users.

Ichika had awakened his in the kidnapping incident six years ago, his sister finding him unconscious with a dozen dead mercenaries killed with his one spell used back then.

After that, his Persona, Nicodemus became a constant companion in his mind. He was a bit different in the sense that Nicodemus also had lots of knowledge and was unusual in that he wasn't just an aspect of himself, but he also knew things Ichika did not know.

From his past, his Persona was a teacher and made sure to drill a lot of knowledge into his mind. His supposedly useless 'Growth 3' skill back then apparently could be carried over in a different way in the real world, giving Ichika genius level skills of learning.

Not wanting to be weak and a burden to his older sister, Ichika had been discreetly training and studying his ass off in almost everything he could learn.

3 years later, when he entered middle school, he became good friends with Dan as they hit it off almost instantly. Visiting their family restaurant, he also met his little sister Ran there.

It was a few weeks into middle school that he entered his first palace.

It was thanks to a mysterious app called the Metaverse Navigator on his smartphone that brought him and Dan into the cognitive world and Palace of their first target. Ichika managed to re-summon Nicodemus for the first time since the kidnapping event and fended the shadows off.

It turned out that one of their teachers was a pedophile and was one for quite awhile, they discovered, but there was no evidence and he was the 'good' teacher in everyone's else's eyes.

It was the day that they found his Shadow self listing off some names of his targets that Dan awakened his power when his sister was being targeted.

Eventually, even his sister got dragged into a fight when stalking them for sneaking around town so much.

Long story short, they beat up the teacher's Shadow Self, grabbed his 'Treasure' (The cognitive source of his distorted world view), collapsed the Palace, and he ended up confessing his crimes in the real world after his mind was reformed.

Three cheers for the cognitive world! Of course, as kids during the time they had only barely comprehended that they were essentially brainwashing people to become 'normal' or perform 'heel-face turns' (trope).

Eventually, they got more and more daring as they went for bigger targets, including their own military officials and politicians. This time, however, they're going global by targeting a Chinese former IS Pilot who was now a prominent military official.

Their general rule of thumb was, if you're crazy enough to form a palace then we're going to have to break into their palaces. After all, a Palace is a manifestation of "distortion", strong negative and corrupt thoughts that warp the perceptions of people into a danger to themselves and others.

So far, that rule hasn't failed them yet.

"Um, what do you want to do, Ichika-kun?" As always, Ran was concerned about what the older boy is thinking about.

Ichika lifted his tattered cloak, double-checking the magazines he had attached to his belt.

"Personally I want to get this over with. Examination week is just days ahead, after all." Ichika voiced his opinion, getting some agreement all across the team.

On the topic of the team, they still haven't decided the name as they had all been going through some degree of Chuunibyou.

They ended up laughing and insulting each other's desired group names to the point where the discussion almost ended up toxic, hence, they postponed the decision until later.

"Mmhm! Onii agrees right? If we don't deal with the general's palace now then you'll end up using this as an excuse not to study." Ran, who was familiar with how lazy her brother can be at times, asked her brother while poking his sides.

"Ouch! Ouch! Stop it! Yeah yeah, let's fight on… after I take a nap." Dan took off his helmet, and lied on the floor in his uncomfortable armour.

*Snore*

"How does he sleep everywhere?" Ichika muttered while keeping quiet as to not disturb his friend.

"A survival mechanism when dealing with boring teachers?" Ran suggested.

"I understand that. But he could just hide some other books inside the textbooks and read them instead." Ichika nodded sagely while thinking of his efficient use of class time.

"You're so studious Ichika-kun!" Ran praised her crush who was still unaware of her feelings.

"A-ah, I guess. I try my best… I have to." He replied her, his serious and determined expression only made him more appealing in the young girl's mind.

Ichika reminisced on the fact that despite fighting back during that time, it was too late as he passed out immediately after grievously injuring all the mercenaries.

There was that one guy that decided to run away, but he was likely far gone by the time Chifuyu-nee got there, he believed.

His older sister didn't ask what had happened, believing him to have been knocked out and there had been some unknown assailant.

At least, that was what she told him, but he didn't believe that she believed that herself.

To him, it was a conundrum that he had no answers to.

He definitely couldn't tell her that he and his team were basically a secretive Lupin-esque thief that stole what people treasured the most.

And whilst he could summon his Persona briefly in the real world through great effort, he couldn't imagine just walking up to his older sister and saying "I have a Stand-like ability from Jojo's Bizarre Adventures and I used it to almost kill dozens of mercenaries at the tender age of 9."

That would probably make her think he's some traumatized survivor or something.

Deciding that it was no use thinking about it, he went ahead and went through some martial arts drills that Nicodemus learned from various mythical warriors from deep beneath the Sea of Souls.

Whilst they do manifest as facet's of users, within the sea of souls themselves they are more 'complete' as demons. It was still difficult for Ichika to grasp as they are all connected to, apparently, other versions of themselves from across the multiverse.

That was actually pretty scary, but still, useful to him as he used his enhanced learning to basically pull off a Bruce Wayne in becoming a multi-martial arts master.

Too bad the only practice buddy he truly had were his Persona's during their free-time and…

"Oh, you're awake Dan? It's time to get warmed up."

"Oh fuck no!"

Ichika spent 15 minutes or so pummeling Dan, in his own special way of teaching him to fight hand-to-hand combat.

Actually, it was just practice for Ichika on a human being that could actually take the hits, but he'd like to think that he had a grander purpose for curb stomping his best bro with his fists.

And besides, it's not like he'll be hurt that badly with his Samurai Armour on.

After that, he swapped his Persona to Kaguya Picaro, casting a Diarahan on Dan to heal his wounds completely.

'Great! Now we're all warmed up to steal the treasure!' Ichika thought to himself in a pleased manner.

Ran praised Ichika in a manner that roughly sounded like "Sasuga Ichika-kun!"

Dan cursed the betrayal of his sibling to Ichika's charms, he hoped that there would be some girl elsewhere that could seduce him so that his sister wouldn't try.

Worse case scenario, he'll let it happen and wait for the inevitable where multiple girls will massacre him on Valentine's day, or something.

As much as Ichika was a great buddy to him, and that he could trust Ichika with his life, he simply didn't know what to do with him at times.

They decided to have one last vote on whether they would leave the Palace from the Safe Room or continue on.

The Safe Room being a place where the target feels is less important, is a place of weak cognition and significantly less distorted to the rest of the Palace, making it a place they can return to in the real world and also teleport to Safe Rooms through the Metaverse Navigator app.

At this point, they were committed to stealing the treasure, so they voted to continue on.

"You know, I get that we're kinda like super spies from those American movies but…" Ichika began a conversation with Dan.

"Yeah?" He urged Ichika to continue on.

"But aren't we more like Phantom Thieves? You know, like in-"

"That's the campiest thing I have ever heard. Remember, that stuff is only bad-ass in America." Dan rebutted Ichika's attempt to call their group Phantom Thieves of Treasures/Desires/Hearts again.

"To be fair, we're in China now."

"That's even lamer then."

They managed to get to China quickly by going into the Metaverse and reaching a place where an airport would be. Since the Metaverse works on how people's thoughts and subconscious perceive the world, an airport is a place they believe that would bring them to other parts of the world, which surprisingly, functioned as a zone where they could teleport to other airports globally.

That, was when they started exporting their own brand of 'make the world a better place' activities.

Perhaps it was unusual for kids their age to do this sort of thing, but considering that they saw terrible people get away with crimes and abused their power from a young age, they were scarred in their own way and carried the resolve to not allow abuses like that when it was in their power to do so.

"I'm just thinking… maybe, after this Palace, we could consider getting some publicity, like, claim that we are responsible for the change in people's hearts." Ichika proposed.

"I don't know. It sounds like a hassle. Won't it just make things more difficult?" Dan disagreed.

"Um, whatever Ich- I mean, Judge thinks is right works for me." Ran quickly correctly her words to use his code-name before agreeing with Ichika's idea.

"Thanks Hime! Samurai, I'm just saying we need to think of preventive measures instead of reacting. If people knew that abusing their power over others would lead to us changing their hearts then at least there'll be less suffering in the world. There would be less people at risk, less children in danger of exploitation…"

"We'll talk about this another time, we're here." Dan cut Ichika off as they reached a large metal door, with an 'Authorized personnel only' warning in red painted on it.

"I got the Security ID Tag." Ran took out the tag they took from a security guard shadow earlier on, and swiped it.

They found the Target's shadow waiting for them.

"Guess we're not going to get out without a fight." Dan sighed, adjusting his helmet and unsheathing his katana.

Ran took out her Naginata, ready to strike.

And then the Shadow spoke… in Chinese.

"... Uh, Ichika, what is she saying?" Dan asked his multi-lingual friend, who seems to know every conceivable language thanks to a certain Jewish teacher in his head bugging him to learn as much as he can.

Ichika shouted something, pointed his finger, and pissed the Shadow General Zhou Ling off.

And then she equipped a cognitive version of her previous personal IS.

"... Oh shit…" Dan muttered.

"Uh, same strategy as last time?" Ran asked.

"...That's the 2nd generation Close-Combat type Lao Shan Long, I'll tank it's physical hits. You guys use the items we have and see if it has any weaknesses." Ichika quickly decided their strategy.

"Come, **Kaguya Picaro**!" Ichika called out, removing his mask, letting it disintegrated through white flames and summoning the woman that looked as if she were made out of blades, with a large half-crescent blade that protected her back.

As the Wild Card, according to Igor he could summon and hold multiple Persona's. He still needed to get many Persona's by recruiting them from the shadows who revealed their true demon forms in order to fuse them to his heart's contents, however.

"Let's slash them up, **Yagyu Jubei**!" Dan removed his face-plate which disappeared in black flames, summoning a helmet-less large Samurai figure with an eye patch over it's left eye.

"Drive them from these lands, **Kaihime**!" Ran shouted, removing her mask as scarlet flames formed a red humanoid female in a similar get-up to her costume behind her, the female Persona was seated on a horse and carried several weapons on her back.

Of course, their enemy didn't let just stand there leisurely and went ahead in assaulting them.

Ichika took the attacks head on, blocking the large blade that the False IS brought down on him easily thanks to Kaguya Picaro's Repel Physical ability, allowing him to deflect physical attacks with his bare hands.

Ran used Matarukaja to increase their attack power and Dan used Marakukaja to increase their defenses.

Meanwhile Ichika bought time by fighting hand-to-hand, dealing some damage before kicking the large exoskeleton right across the room with a powerful kick at hyper-sonic speeds.

They normally couldn't fight at such a level, but when their Persona's are out, the Persona's power is easily channeled through their bodies, allowing them to even evade natural lightning and fight at a speed that is beyond humans.

Although, they couldn't keep up that kind of pace for very long as they'll run out of power if their Persona manifested for too long or they used too many abilities.

" **Shining Arrows!** " Ichika shouted, getting lucky and rained down the maximum of eight waves of attacks.

Blessed arrows fell upon the dark false IS that flew into the skies after Ichika's kick, sending it tumbling into the ground.

"You know, I did think the enemies in the Palace were too easy before…" Ran commented, seeing the cognitive IS suffer heavy damage.

"So we're in a 'low-leveled' palace for sure, huh?" Dan resorted back to gaming terms while watching the devastation before taking action.

"My turn, **Bufudyne**!" Ran called out, bringing upon a torrent of ice upon the target.

As it shattered on the enemy, it didn't seem to do any special damage, other than to weaken it's shield further.

"It's not Ice for sure!" Ran noted, while making note that while Bless attacks weren't ineffective, it wasn't super effective either.

"I've got a hunch, let's try this out! **Megaton Raid**!" Dan's Persona Yagyu Jubei dashed forward, spin once and unsheathed it's sword in a Battoujutsu technique, dealing significant damage from it's blade while knocking it back.

"Rather than a weakness that's more of a critical hit." Ran mentioned, while inwardly glad that her brother got lucky.

"It's time for an All-Out Attack!" Ichika lead their full power assault as he revealed the blade of his hidden sword cane.

The two siblings followed suit, pummeling on the false IS with rapid strikes.

Long story short, they won by not letting their enemy hit them with some real firepower (Thermal cannons), grabbed the treasure (making sure not to kill the shadow just in case) and ran the fuck out of the collapsing Palace.

"Holy shit that was easier than I thought. Hahaha!" Dan laughed happily as they were running back to the airport where they came from with hyper-sonic speeds within the Metaverse.

"Onii! Don't get cocky!" Ran admonished her older brother petulantly.

"Man, I've been stressed out over nothing." Ichika chuckled as he reapplied the Masukukaja buff to keep up their insane speeds.

Normally it was very difficult to passively channel their Persona's powers into their bodies to fight at speeds that could rival an IS without summoning their Persona's, but the speed enhancing power made up for it. Such a workaround was needed as they needed to conserve their strength just in case.

"That's because Ichika-kun is really strong!" The scarlet red-head cheerfully praised her crush, who graciously accepted the compliment while her brother was cursing the fact he had such an unequal treatment.

"Anyway, what was the treasure?" Dan asked.

"A miniature nuclear bomb." Ichika blandly mentioned.

"Oh, I see… WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HOLDING A NUCLEAR BOMB!" Dan panicked and started playfully strangling his male friend.

"It could be useful. We can just keep it in another of our 'Bag of Holdings' in case we need to blow something up to kingdom come." Ran defended Ichika while pulling her brother off him.

"Exactly! Thanks Ran!" Ichika gratefully breathed a deep breath of air from being released.

"What kind of person actually has a nuke as a Treasure?!" Dan raged against the heavens.

"Well, for a former IS pilot, she was a huge proponent of nuclear warfare. From what I got, she had a strong need to defend her country but believed that the IS would only make them on par but not superior to other countries, hence her near fanatical and brutal actions against her political rivals that disagreed." Ichika explained.

"How did you find out about all of this again?" Dan asked, getting a smug grin from his friend.

"Who's the Master Hacker?"

"*Sigh*... you are…"

* * *

 **Back to the real world**

Eventually, they made it back to Japan and got out of the Metaverse in their respective homes.

Not that difficult as they were next door neighbors.

The next few days passed by peacefully, with all of them updating their weaponry using the Gotanda family forge that his grandfather had owned. And by 'updating', it meant 'forging', new weapons.

The burden of the work fell upon Orimura Ichika once again as Growth 3 is OP in real life, making him a master of way too many specializations, to the point where he may as well be Batman with prep time.

Secretly, Ichika kinda liked the idea of being Batman...

He visited the Velvet Room a few times to say hello to Igor and the attendant that he grew very fond of over the past few years.

Eventually it was time for examinations!

"Damn, how could the exam hall change to this place?" Ichika muttered as he checked his P.A.D., a smartphone that he, Dan and Ran used to access the Metaverse Navigator App and privately chat together to plan their infiltration.

Right now, Ichika was wondering why exactly his examination hall changed as he received an email notification to enter a different hall.

"That's really fishy since I didn't get a notification." Dan commented with a perplexed expression.

"I don't want Ran to skip class but do you think she'll be able to sneak around and follow me around?" Ichika asked the girl's' brother, who gave him a blank look before nodding and saying that 'She'll be happy to' do so.

Eventually, while Dan went to sit his exams, Ran made some excuse to get out of class and snuck around, following Ichika from the shadows.

For some reason, Ichika found an inactive IS in an empty exam hall way.

'Something tells me this is a trap but… ooh, it's an IS!… maybe I can dismantle some of it for parts?' Ichika rubbed his hands together greedily, a habit he forced himself to learn as to annoy Nicodemus since it was a racist Jewish stereotypical cartoon action.

He fashioned himself as a bit of a mechanic (fucking bullshit Growth 3 makes him a damn master) and lunged himself at the machine, thinking that he could use some of his Persona's super strength to tear apart some of it for his own use.

Unfortunately for him, instead of breaking apart like a good machine, it activated instead.

And then some adult woman ran through the door, conveniently seeing him trigger the activation.

"This isn't what it looks like!" He shouted to no avail.

Ichika was carted off in 'safe and secure' (it never actually is) vehicles to some facilities where he was interrogated and tested on in uh… invasive ways as they were trying to figure out why he could activate the women-only IS.

Ran followed him discreetly using her own super speed to catch up in the real world, until they used the Metaverse to conveniently skip through all the security and find his room.

However, it wasn't as if he could just escape now that they knew about him.

Still, he got Ran and Dan to sneak his laptop and other devices into the room he was kept in. He used his spare time to write a few hacking programs for later use when he would get his P.A.D. back from the government.

Thankfully, the Metaverse Navigation App had the nifty function of not being able to be seen by normal people who didn't have it forcefully installed into their phone (Persona users get it forcefully downloaded), three cheers for Igor!

He didn't think the long-nosed man was such a great app developer!

That, or he shoved all the work to Ichika's 'attendant' Lavenza.

Eventually, the government guys (whose names he wrote down to investigate later) told him that he would be forcefully enrolled in the IS Academy.

An all girls school for obvious reasons…

'FUUUCCCCKKKKKKK!' Ichika screamed internally.

When Dan and Ran dropped by to check on him at night, their reactions could not have been more different.

"Congratulations bro!"

"...An all girls school…"

Ran looked despondent whereas Dan was cheering him on, secretly hoping that he would get a girlfriend there and not date his sister.

* * *

 **Velvet Room**

The day before his initiation, Ichika dreamt and found himself awake in a familiar Velvet Room.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room… It has been some long years, you have been an exceedingly hard working guest, but now it's time. The cards have shown that your fate will be most interesting." Igor chuckled as the cute girl with long platinum blonde hair holding the Persona Compendium looked slightly depressed.

"I'm going to get a card reading, aren't I?" Ichika asked, getting a nod from Igor.

Ichika walked towards the girl wearing a blue Victorian dress, stylish matching headband with white butterfly ornaments and yellow roses. Ichika couldn't help but note how cute Lavenza's pink lips were when she was pouting so heavily.

He gulped as she had a determined look on her face.

'For some reason, it seems that girls have a negative reaction to me attending the IS academy… I wonder why?' Ichika wondered, unfortunately, his high understanding is utterly geared for combat and non-woman related activities.

 **Arcana List**

 **Fool - Orimura Ichika (Nicodemus), Not yet attained.  
**

 **Magician- Gotanda Dan (Yagyu Jubei), Rank 8**

 **Chariot - Gotanda Ran (Kaihime), Rank 7**

 **Strength - Lavenza, Rank 7**


	3. A New Journey: Shirokishi

AN: Right, I definitely have the Fool arcana sorted out for the most part, with the Orimura siblings and Tabane being closely involved in it. The Judgement Link will, as per usual, reveal the real arc. Let's enjoy fluff while we still can, shall we?

Ichika might be utterly op in some ways, but things won't necessarily go the way he wants. Real life is hard. And his life is a harem comedy, so clearly, he will have some butt monkey moments in some unexpected ways. Think of him as basically Old Man Henderson harem protagonist version powered by Batman excuses.

Also, while there are serious moments, it's not an overly serious story, so just roll with the insanity. Thanks!

 **A New Journey: Shirokishi**

"The Fool in the Upright Position. Your true journey begins here, once again. In the immediate future, you must learn to trust your instincts once again as changes will come upon your life." Igor began when flipping the first card, foretelling Ichika's immediate future.

Ichika nodded, knowing that by choosing (forced) to attend the IS Academy and skip out of being a lab rat for arrogant rich men (the type of people he would take down), he would be operating in a different manner than before.

That said, no matter what, he would be free despite everyone attempting to confine him for his 'special' ability to use an IS.

Worse comes to worse he could empower himself with his Persona and go into hiding within the Metaverse.

Although, he also knew that 'The Fool' represented optimism in a manner, and also reacting… in a way, he's lost a bit of optimism through these few years along with becoming way too calculative at times. It wasn't something he particularly found good upon reflection, but to think that he will have to channel the same way of behaving in the very immediate future… it was unpleasant to think about.

"And you will keep the terms of your contract?" Igor asked.

Nodding, Ichika replied, "Of course. I will take responsibility for the consequences of my actions."

Despite stealing the 'hearts' of many people over the years, so far the consequences seem minuscule in the grand scheme of things. Even though Ichika, Dan and Ran were prepared to deal with potential negative fallout, surprisingly, there was quite little of it.

It was both a relief and a depressing fact as it also meant that the world was still the same as it had been before.

Admittedly, the futility of it all was agitating Ichika greatly, leading to him seriously considering to make their group 'public' in a certain manner.

However, the whole IS debacle would mean those plans would be placed on hold. This would also curtail his efforts to convince Dan, much to Ichika's dismay.

"The card indicating the future beyond that is… The Magician in the Upright position. It seems that… oh my, you have all the skills and confidence needed in your journey to take advantage of the opportunities in your way. It will be a journey of self-realization, one of strong will and action. Marvelous..." Igor seemed pleased.

Lavenza nodded and looked up at Ichika's face from her position on his lap.

She had been sitting on his lap since the beginning of the fortune telling for reasons unknown to Ichika, but he was more than used to accommodating Lavenza's strange requests every so often.

"You have worked hard over the past years. No matter what obstacle in your way, you will surely triumph over them. After all you're my…" Lavenza trailed off and stopped, shook her head and hugged the large compendium she was carrying with her tightly around her small body.

"Um, Lavenza, what were you about to-" Ichika began to ask, only to get his head smacked by the large book.

"I'm not telling you yet! Not until you beat me…" Lavenza shouted, before continuing on quietly.

"A-ah, but you're so strong Lavenza, haha… guess I have to work a lot harder then…" Ichika resolved himself and smiled, contrasting his internal screaming as he was truly dreading the next time she will beat him down in a Persona battle.

"Be sure that you do! Hmm, I suppose I have a few challenges to help you on your way…"

'Oh joy! More fusion challenges! Well, it's not as if I don't like puzzle games in my life… oh lord my wallet…' Ichika grimaced internally to Lavenza's commanding tone before processing her switch to a softer one.

Igor chuckled, enjoying the time they were spending together.

"Let's see, the types of challenges you will be facing are… intriguing, The Moon in the Upright position. Mysteries, there will come a time where you will need to explore the depths of your soul and the abyss of your own nature. At best, you will reach the deepest level of self-realization… but beware of giving into fear and rejecting reality." Igor warned in a grave manner.

'... That is scary… perhaps, this unvarnished truth that I will discover has to deal with the whole IS issue. What if… it has to do with the fact I can use an IS, or my parents that Chifuyu-nee never talks about, or…'

Shaking himself out of such thoughts, shelving it for later concern, Ichika gentle lifted the cute blonde girl out of his lap and thanked Igor for informing him about what was to come.

After that, he coughed out a large amount from his wallet to fuse some skills into another of his favorite Persona's, believing that the IS Academy is going to be a tiring endeavor, he finally finished up his Trumpeter for the most part, although he kept some skill cards to replace Growth 3 in a fight.

Auto Makaja, Auto Masuku, Auto Maraku, Regenerate 3, Null Physical, Insta-Heal, Heat Up, Growth 3.

His special all passives build just for dealing with the stress of an all girls school. He would have placed Invigorate 3 there, but then again, he had an SP Adhesive 3 that he found in a Palace which he could use instead.

With this, he'll always be at his best, recuperating from injuries, energy loss, possible ailments, etc… plus, he keeps his enhanced learning and observational capabilities here. Oh, and even in the real world, he'll suffer very little from physical damage.

Sorry Nicodemus, you're being shafted. One day I'll build you into an Almighty spammer instead, I promise.

Besides, having a Judgement Persona out in most cases would be good, Ichika thought to himself.

"Ah, do not fret about losing access to the Velvet Room. You may use your key to enter from your future dorm room." Lavenza reassured him.

"Whew! That's a relief. I wouldn't know what to do if I couldn't see you again." Ichika told Lavenza in a thankful and deeply grateful manner.

"I- I wouldn't know the answer to that. But I will certainly be in deep sorrow."

Igor chuckled as Lavenza didn't exactly know how to continue that line of conversation.

"It's time for you to awake. Rise and shine now." He told Ichika, before Ichika felt icy cold water being splashed over his face, groggy, disorientated, vision blurry and hearing slightly impaired, he quickly went into combat mode.

* * *

 **April 1, 20XX**

Instantly reacting to the assault, he leaped from his bed and kicked off the wall with his feet while using the sleeves of the clothes he was given to wipe his eyes.

Landing, he quickly performed a back roll and grabbed the incoming arm that was coming at him from behind at high speeds. He grabbed, pulled and gained control of his still blurry assailant's arm, lifting and throwing his assailant onto the ground.

Sensing another assailant next to him, Ichika quickly launched a brutal Karate-styled side elbow to his enemy's gut, disabling the target temporarily.

'Someone's behind me!' Ichika thought, and reacted by turning and utilising a powerful right hook, sent that somebody face planting into the ground.

As his hearing was recovering and his vision correcting itself, he found himself staring at three large men groaning pathetically in pain. One of them clutching his gut on the floor, another was crawling away from him in fear while the one he punched in the head was just unmoving while being in agony.

He looked up, and saw a well-dressed man staring at him with a mixture of fear and awe. The other person in the room was carrying a pail that was used to throw cold water at him and…

"Eh? Chifuyu-nee? Welcome home!" Ichika defaulted to house-husband mode after straightening his back to greet his older sister, who had a pleased smile on her face, albeit, a small one.

Ichika found that rather strange as she was usually more stern, for some reason, he managed to get a sense that… perhaps she was proud of what he just did?

Huh, who knew she liked watching fights so much? Ichika quickly checked the clock on the wall, seeing that it was 3 a.m. in the morning.

"Heh… you have to improve your awareness Ichika. You aren't at home, you're still in the government facility." She corrected him.

"I-I knew that."

"Also, next time you perform a side elbow. Don't play nice, aim it at their face not their gut."

"Yes, Chifuyu-nee!"

She walked to his side and smacked his back 'lightly'.

"I told you. He's strong enough to make his own decisions." Orimura Chifuyu said to the man in a suit.

"He certainly is. I was already convinced when I saw his records but this is remarkable!" The middle-aged man was seriously creeping Ichika out right now, but he didn't let that show on his face.

"I don't believe we met before, Orimura Ichika." Ichika greeted him, holding out his hand as the man grasped his hand in a firm handshake, and shook it almost enthusiastically.

"Kuromochi Hiro, CEO and Group President of Kuromochi Machinery Development, the country's foremost experts in IS research, design and manufacturing." The man quickly mouthed off.

If Ichika was impressed he didn't show it, but rather, simply told him that it was a pleasure to meet with him.

"Oh, I sort of hit them rather hard, I won't get into trouble for that, will I?" Ichika asked, pointing to the men.

"It's fine. I hired them in accordance to your sister's suggestion when I said I wanted to test you."

"Test me? For what purpose?"

"I'm glad you asked, my boy."

Ichika was seriously getting creeped out by his overly familiar attitude, but decided to take it in stride while discreetly shooting his older sister a 'what the fuck is going on' glance.

She simply plastered a stern look and nod.

Pretty much her way of saying, 'Deal with it, you're doing alright so far'.

Or so, Ichika believed.

"You see, Ichika-kun, can I call you that?"

"No problem."

"Excellent. You may call me Hiro-kun, by the way, special treatment and all. Get used to it, you're basically the darling of half the government now."

"And the other half?"

"They hate you."

'What a surprise! I never saw that coming~!' Ichika sarcastically thought in his head while the 'Last Surprise' song jingled throughout his head.

Ichika would unfailingly defend his decision to spend almost a hundred million yen to get Shoji Meguro and Lyn Inaizumi to compose and sing an entire soundtrack for their team.

Granted, Dan made him spend an entire Sunday in Tokyo's Memento's dungeon grinding for cash.

Apparently, Shadows cough up money when they are confused. Memento Boss shadows cough up more money.

Ichika had to make a max Luck Persona with immunity to physical damage, before spamming Pulinpa to confuse the boss and basically spent the entire day farming.

It was the most tedious exercise of collecting money and waiting tanking attacks. Dan and Ran were simply chilling out in a cafe somewhere while he had to make up for the money he spent.

It took two Sundays to make up their budget deficit along with another 40 million yen in profit.

Of course, the most painful part was the fact he had to go through a lot of hoops to have the coins gathered exchanged into cash and banked into his false identity bank account that they used for their group purchases.

Despite the trouble, it was so worth it! He now had the rights to an awesome soundtrack just for their battles and for daily use. Ran had agreed to his decision in the first place and enjoyed the music greatly. Eventually, as soon as Ichika broke even, Dan had admitted it was the best music soundtrack he had the pleasure to listen to.

Ran's favorite was 'Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There', Dan's was 'Life Will Change' and Ichika's personal favorite was 'Rivers in the Desert'.

Personally, he had no idea what kind of drugs or natural inspiration the composer was on, but it was so worth it.

"I suppose this involves some family politics, entrenched connections and gender politics?" Ichika blandly mentioned.

"Exactly. Of course, I could care less about that. Unfortunately, frankly speaking, my board members outnumber me and are divided on many issues."

He was seriously wondering what the Kuromachi boss wanted from him, until he entered a room with several IS's being worked on.

Eventually, he brought Ichika face-to-face with a hulking behemoth of an IS.

"This… is a Third Generation Unit, Japan's next generation Infinite Stratos. Far greater engine output than older IS's, it's brute force compensates for it's large size. But what's special about it is it's One Off Ability that we're trying to replicate…" The man went on-and-on about the IS, which could be summed up as 'literally all expansion slots are dedicated to this one melee weapon that can wreck any energy barrier like tissue'.

If it was a Persona being optimized for one attack then Ichika would approve, but this was simply some ridiculous Isekai-like cheat ability from some shitty light novel, Ichika believed, and hence, wasn't that impressed.

During this time, his older sister seemed to be watching him from the side, as if she wanted to let him stand on his own.

'Fine by me', Ichika thought, he wouldn't want to burden his sister at all if possible.

He asked Hiro Kuromochi why is he showing the Prototype IS to him, and he told him that half the government, his company and he himself… wanted Ichika to pilot it. The other half wanted to stick with the plan of giving the prototype to the cadet representative of Japan who would be starting her term at the IS Academy in this same day.

"We decided to let you have the final pick after seeing your astounding credentials."

"What credentials?" Ichika asked the man, who took out several folders from his suit and read from it.

"Let's see, Student Council President for three years in middle school, honorary member of several sports and hobby clubs… And what's this? First place in several Nationals for Kendo, Judo, Kyudo, Chess, Shogi and … Karate. And all this within three years, without being a member of the clubs where the club presidents had to beg you to enter? I've seen overachievers, mostly women these days… but this? You are literally Japan's Übermensch. You are exactly who I've been looking for."

To be fair, it wasn't like he could get part-time jobs or go out without much scrutiny at their age, so he was simply finding things to do, people to help out… suddenly there he was with his face on the newspaper… Ichika reminiscence on how the hell did he get in this mess?

Although, something bugged him about the term he used.

"Übermensch? You read Nietzsche's work?" Ichika probed.

"And well read too! Considering that you have one of the highest IQ's in the country I shouldn't be surprised… well, of course, that blasted Shinonono woman is still the smartest but-"

Ichika knew this sort of look anyway, he almost looked obsessed with something, with an ideal… oh crap…

"Anyways, all you have to do is give me verbal confirmation that you'll take the prototype. Besides, you deserve better than some generic training IS that they plan to saddle you with. Everyone knows that the Uchigane is scraping the bottom barrel of the 2nd generation IS's."

'Crap, this is… how can I solve this… think Ichika think!'

He quickly glanced around the engineering area and was surprised to see something that he didn't think he would see again.

"Wait… is that… the Shirokishi?" Ichika muttered in awe and wonder, the Mother of all IS's were in this room… but why?

"You recognized it? Of course you do, everyone does! Yes, no one has seen the White Knight ever since the incident is what everyone says but… that Shinonono woman and the uh, anonymous pilot, placed it in our hands one day. We actually used its core to place in the Byakushiki, the prototype." The man explained further, his excitement spreading to Ichika despite alarm bells ringing loudly in his head that the Kuromochi Hiro was dangerous.

"Despite being the Zeroth Generation IS, it's specs are pretty much above most second generation IS's, capable of full flight but it has a way smaller battery pool and weaker engine. However, it's lighter weight and human-like size gives it the mobility unrivalled by any IS to date! Even though it's a ghost of the past, if it were to arise again then…"

Ichika spent a moment reflecting. On one hand, he could screw himself over the first two choices while either ending up with an over-specialised IS or a crappy IS that can't even fly or…

Ha… he'll be laughed at for sure by the world, he could even alienate the man offering him the choices but...

'Ah… it's time to trust my instincts. The path has revealed itself to me, it seems. The Fool Arcana, the beginning of a journey… was the White Knight, the Shirokishi, not the beginning of an era?'

"Kuromochi-san?" He addressed the man formally.

"Yes, Ichika… Orimura-san?" Grasping the seriousness of what Ichika was about to say, Kuromochi Hiro also stopped being overly familiar.

Ichika pointed at the deactivated Shirokishi.

"That one… the one that herald a new age of warfare, the IS that cemented it's place in history, the one that became… a legend. Let me carve my own legend from here on out with that Infinite Stratos."

* * *

Several hours later…

Opening the Metaverse Navigator App, Ichika said the name of the candidate of a possible Palace he wanted to infiltrate.

"Kuromochi Hiro."

"Candidate Found." His P.A.D. replied, confirming that he did in fact have a palace.

"Kuromochi Machinery Development Main Office."

"Candidate Found."

'Alright, now I just need what he would view it as… what he would view the world as in his eyes… but what are my clues?'

"A… workshop?"

"No Match Found."

Alright, so his near obsession with IS's wouldn't mean a workshop then… perhaps, it is related to his usage of Nietzsche's writings.

But what could be related with an Übermensch?

'What the hell does he want with me? If he sees me as the Übermensch then… what does it mean?'

Damn, I have the name, palace location correct but… if I want to infiltrate it then I'll need to understand just how Kuromochi Hiro sees the world as if I want to gain access to his palace.

And since he'll be in the IS academy that will limit his options quite a bit.

Ichika closed his P.A.D., looking on with trepidation while riding the train to the IS Academy site.

Thankfully, they allowed him to gather some personal belongings before being relocated to the academy. He used the allotted time to brief Dan and Ran about his suspicions and gave them some details on how they were going to meet up from now on.

He didn't know why, but Chifuyu-nee simply walked out as soon as she heard his decision. She didn't stomp out or feel any killing intent, so he didn't think she was angry but he couldn't be sure.

Kuromochi Hiro was mad at first until he calmed down and started shaking Ichika as if he was his best buddy, saying something like "Sasuga Ichika-kun!" and about how it was a "Brilliant Solution!" to their dilemma.

He quickly got his engineers to re-implant Shirokishi's core back from the Byakushiki and would have it delivered to the IS academy later in the day.

'Well, at least I avoided a political land mine with the Japanese Cadet Representative. Although, I'll be the laughing stock and target practice of the entire engineering community after this… ah well, it can't be helped.'

He didn't regret his decision, not one bit. He was going to live with, and OWN his decision!

That, after all, was what he swore when he signed the contract with Igor.

It was his duty as the Wild Card to see this through.

* * *

 **IS Academy Entrance**

Although… going into a class and become the staring object of an entire group of girls was out of question!

That's just an unreasonable game!

'Fuck that shit! I've got a better idea! Okay, I will be the center of attention anyways so… I'll have to creep the girls out instead of acting the way I was in middle school.'

Back then in middle school, literally every girl stared at him from afar and giggled. That was uncomfortable, but he needed a variant of that sort of reaction this time around that would guarantee a lack of desire to be a topic of concern.

Whilst he wanted to be an excellent IS pilot, he really wanted a distorted impression as well so that he won't be harassed too much. But… who said it had to be a contradictory desire?

He could be weird and undesirable while still be an excellent pilot, Ichika reasoned.

'I've got to be weird enough that everyone will try hard enough to not think of me! That way, less people will bother me and I can have more free time to go into the Metaverse.'

In the end, Ichika felt that he belonged in the cognitive world as that was the place where he was most assured.

But he knew he couldn't go on like that. Real life… that was the challenge. In the Metaverse, power reigned supreme, and that was easy after all these years. This new journey of his would be entirely different, it wasn't as easy as targeting an enemy's weakness to win, it was an uncertain chaotic world.

However, it was also the place where he could make his mark. Ichika swore to himself that he would change the world for the better, whether it's through reality or the cognitive world, it doesn't matter.

So long as no little boy would have to be in a position where he feels nothing but despair, where a child wouldn't have to curse his own weakness in a cruel and deadly world…

He would do whatever it takes so that such a world would cease to exist.

Even if he would have to fake his way, where a mask, pretend to belong… as long as it takes until he's learned enough to strike down anything in his way.

First, he applied some Stealthanol (made with some materials he found) to erase his presence. Hooray for bullshit items that still work in the real world somehow! (To an extent)

He didn't enter the classroom, instead, he activated a certain hack he developed that allowed him to find the sensors and cameras in the school. After learning it, he decided to dash between the blind-spots and avoided any of his fellow students.

His bags would be delivered to his room so he only had to focus on getting to class.

Diving into a bush, he shuffled along silently to right below the first window of his classroom 1-A.

Opening a pouch of his, he threw a tiny listening bug up a storey high until it attached itself to the edge of the window, and then he waited, making sure to pick out all the leaves attached to his body.

8 o'clock, homeroom is starting.

"Congratulations to everyone on entering this school!" Ichika heard a cute voice greeting the class upon hearing the door opening through his listening device micro ear receiver.

He had needed to use these types of equipment in order to spy on his targets to learn more about them.

Ichika seriously lamented the lack of opportunity to bug Kuromochi Hiro back then as he didn't have access to his equipment then. After quickly scrolling through the class register (to think that Houki would be here…) and seating arrangement in his P.A.D., he quickly formulated a strategy into dealing with this.

"I'm your homeroom teacher's assistant, Yamada Maya."

Her friendly introduction was met with utter silence.

Ichika pitied the woman instantly even without seeing her.

Well, if he was going to be met with scrutiny anyways, he may as well give them a false impression to latch on.

'Alright, excluding me, there will be 29 other students and one teacher's desk.

Looking through his 'gift pouch', he found that he still had dozens of homemade chocolate truffles. Another look into his 'miscellaneous pouch' he managed to find around forty mini-cushions that some shadows left behind in that weird Palace two years back.

Perfect.

"E-eh...a-ahhhh… Starting today, you are all students of the IS Academy. This a boarding school-"

The cute sounding assistant teacher continued some exposition and saying some cutesy welcoming stuff. Eventually, they began with class self-introductions. This was his time to act.

Putting his P.A.D. on silent mode, he went into the metaverse, climbed up and broke through the class window, before exiting the class and went around the hallway, exiting the metaverse and casually walked towards his class in the real world while listening to the receiver in his ear.

Having hacked into the camera feeds from his modified P.A.D., he knew no one would be walking through the nearby hallways yet but he needed to make it look like he came from somewhere after all.

Waiting outside his classroom, he held a huge amount of cushions with a single chocolate truffle neatly in the center of the cushion. He waited just as his name was about to be called following the alphabetical order Yamada Maya was following before entering the class.

Immediately channeling the full power of his Persona, his auto-buff skills speeding him up greatly, time slowed down as he rapidly walked across the classroom distributing the chocolate truffle on a cushion to each desk (except his own), giving double to Houki who sat by the window and double to his assistant homeroom teacher.

It was as if time was slowed by a factor of 50, but his body was beginning to feel the strain of using his Persona at full power without summoning it in the real world.

Thankfully, being a Persona user meant that some laws of physics were optional, something like leaving sonic booms behind when going at maximum speeds can be done, but they had to will it to happen.

Usually, Dan, Ran and himself would not do so as they wanted speed AND stealth.

A loud sonic boom would be counterproductive at the speeds they fought and ambushed at.

He swiftly tossed up some colored Vanish Balls into the top of the class, activating them to a minor extent, creating some low noise distraction and a small amount of colored smoke.

In the real world, it's much less effective and would pale in comparison to a real smoke bomb, but as a light distraction, it worked.

He stood next in between the teacher's desk and his desk (which was right in front of the former's desk) as his internal time adjusted itself back to normal.

"Good morning everyone, Orimura Ichika, pleasure to meet you all!" He greeted in what he thought was a 'casual' manner, if this was an anime everyone would have giant '!?' symbols on top of their heads as they finally registered his presence.

"I apologize for my late arrival. The chocolate truffles I made took a bit longer than expected, please, enjoy yourselves." I motioned my hand to one of the desks in front of me, shocking the all female class with the revelation that there was a pretty little cushion with a single chocolate truffle in the middle of their desk.

"Houki." Calling out his childhood friend's name, which caused her to look at him in surprise (honestly, this is their default reaction at this point, he mused), "I got you double." He dropped those words with a wink before turning to his shocked teacher.

"You got two as well, Yamada-sensei."

"A-eh? Ah, chocolate… thank you for the treat!" The green haired teacher bashfully replied before immediately putting the chocolates into her mouth.

'What's with that reaction? Shouldn't you look at me with suspicion or something? Hey, come on! After all the effort I put to look like some overly dramatic occultist weirdo?' Ichika internally despaired at such a reaction that reminded him of Ran's reaction when encountering his homemade chocolate.

"Oh dear gods! This is the best chocolate I've ever tasted!"

'Wha, really?'

"Mmmm! Heavenly!"

'Oi, I think that's an exaggeration.'

"Sasuga Ichika-sama!"

'Why the hell is there a sama suffix attached! What happened to female superiority? Did the chocolate send her back in time or something?'

Ichika had exasperated reactions to the overly positive reactions of his classmates.

"Kyaa! Ichika-san is so cool! That entrance, that everything!"

'NOOOOOO! Please get your eyes checked!'

"National Champion in several competitive martial arts and now a Patissier?! Is there anything Ichika-san can't do?"

'Anything that isn't writing in my backstory of 320 pages.' Ichika dryly thought to himself.

"I-I cannot stand for this!" Ichika felt his hope soar as some upper class looking blonde looked angry at him.

"Why, pray tell, are praises being sung for this... boy, that has zero experience in piloting an IS!"

Ah, this is Cecilia Alcott, isn't it?

"Exactly!" Ichika agreed out-loud with Cecilia.

"...Huh?!" For whatever reason, she wasn't expecting him to react that way. Still, he hoped that she would play along.

"I have absolutely zero experience with piloting an IS. Please refrain from praising me, I am but a mere fellow student, just like most of you here. I am here, to learn alongside all you talented students that have worked hard to get into the IS Academy, unlike me, who got in through unusual circumstances." Ichika quickly tried to get everything under control.

The class was silent for a bit, before another girl voiced out.

"Ichika-san… you're so humble!"

Ichika's ploy to get everyone to keep away from him failed, in the end, he simply rode the flow and sat back down in his seat as class introductions continued on longer than expected.

After that, he buried himself in his textbook, ignoring most of the world.

Eventually, Chifuyu-nee entered the classroom during their first class right after she just got out from a meeting.

"...Is he speed reading the entire textbook? It's over 600 pages." Orimura Chifuyu asked her assistant teacher and friend that she respected, Yamada Maya.

"He sure is! He's amazing you know! I asked him questions and he managed to answer them perfectly even, I think he has perfect memory." The cheerful assistant teacher replied her friend.

"Hmm, not bad." Ichika heard Chifuyu-nee's compliment and thought that this was such a special day to get two compliments from her.

Eventually, Chifuyu introduced herself as their teacher, and the girls went full fangirl on her.

Unlike Ichika, she actually had a method in shutting them up.

Ichika wished he had that sort of authority.

Much to his dismay, when the ten minutes break between subjects began, the girls started giggling and gossiping while keeping a distance from him.

Ichika was praying for the beautiful blonde to come and spew some hateful drivel at him.

"...Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Ichika looked up, and saw Houki was the one who spoke.

Okay, that might actually be a lot better.

"Yes! I would love to Houki!" He enthusiastically agreed. 'Salvation at last!'

"W-wha, l-love, what are you saying?" Houki stammered, Ichika was wondering if she might be a little feverish considering her flushed face, but decided that Houki was a strong young woman who could take it!

He grabbed her hand and used his prior knowledge of the school's map to lead them to the rooftop.


	4. Fortune Favors the Bold

AN: TenRyuGa - Very nice calling cards, there won't be any palaces for those girls but there will certainly be calling cards involved for certain plot reasons. Thanks for the reviews, keep it coming! Well, it's time for some investigation, plot advancement, and some IS upgrading to get to next chapter.

 **Fortune Favors the Bold**

"Ah, a moment of freedom from the masses! Oh blue sky how I love thee!" Ichika happily yelled to the sky as soon as he managed to lead Houki out to the school roof.

His childhood friend seemed a bit taken aback by his dramatic reaction, but stayed silent due to not knowing what to say.

"Anyway, congratulations Houki!"

"Huh?"

"For winning last year's National Kendo Competition of course! You're as amazing with a sword as ever!"

After Houki heard him say that, her mouth immediately became the shape of a 'へ', and her cheeks turned red.

'Is she mad or just feverish? I don't think it's the flu season yet, or I'll be Reaper farming in Mementos now.'

"How do you know that?"

Ichika tilted his head in a cartoonish manner as if trying to will a question mark to appear at the side of his head to express his confusion at Houki's response.

"Newspapers, online news, word of mouth, etc… for some reason all sorts of gossip gets passed through me." He answered her.

"Why, why do you go through these news and get yourself involved in gossiping?"

'That's because I need to find and get to know my targets. Not to mention get close to them using all sorts of information and get them to slip up on their true views of the world. Not that I'll tell Houki that, so I'll just talk about something else.'

"I guess I just can't help it. Oh, we haven't seen each other for six years, right? But wow, to think that I would recognise you instantly. I'm glad I've gotten better at remembering things."

"Eh…?"

"Same hairstyle. Beautiful as always."

'Yeah, her long hair looks beautiful like that. Well, Houki herself has grown to become cuter and prettier than he can imagine. Kendo has done wonders for her figure.' Ichika assessed in his mind, but didn't elaborate so that he won't be charged with sexual harassment.

Houki, however, assumed his words were directed at something other than her hair.

"A-ah, so you remember it all?" Shinonono Houki began playing with her hair, Ichika thought it was adorable but he would rather not say it for fear that she'll pressure him to doing something embarrassing.

'Just in case.' Ichika thought to himself. After all, in this day and age, the dominant gender has been swapped around to the point where it wouldn't be unusual for men to be bossed around.

Ran had shown signs of this earlier on thanks to her mother's influence, but honestly, she treats everyone fairly regardless of their circumstances. Before that, she would have picked on her older brother a bit, but after their ordeal together and spending a lot of time together… well, she became a strong proponent of gender equality (secretly, Japan tends to shun others with different opinions quite harshly).

"Even our agreement?" Houki asked, prompting Ichika to have an internal crisis.

'Oi! Nicodemus, you remember anything about that?' He asked his long time companion/facet of himself that is probably more than he appears, not that Ichika will bring it up for now.

 _ **'Hint: Boyfriend.'**_

'Ohhhh, now I rememb- AHHHHHH! What do I do?'

 _ **'Marry her before engaging in sexual intercourse.'**_

He looked to his other Persona's for advice, the more vulgar ones were doing a Shia LaBeouf 'Just Do It' action, while the rest were relatively neutral about it.

"I do. I didn't think you'll remember it." Ichika replied, remembering that promise when they were nine years old.

That he'll be her boyfriend if she won the finals of the Kendo Nationals.

"A-ah, then we are both...ah…"

'… Oh shit! She's actually serious about this? We were, what, nine years old?'

"Houki… I've changed a lot. I'm not sure if you'll be happy with the current me."

Ichika attempted his special gambit, Brooding Anti-Hero mode!

"But I-I lo…"

Despite loving him for all those years, Houki still struggled to convey her feelings. The years apart had done a number on her personality and social skills, especially since she had to relocate very often as part of a government protection programme.

She still remembered how he would chase off those that made fun of her, or how Ichika would always comfort her, forgive her whenever she would hurt him and… to her, Kendo was her only link to him back then.

Ichika took the initiative, grasping both her hands with his own, and holding them up in front of them.

"We were nine years old back then...It's been so long, that's why... let's catch up, spend time together, have fun and make wonderful memories. If you still believe I am a man that's worthy of your feelings then I promise that I'll give you a proper answer. Alright, Houki?"

Internally crossing his fingers, hoping this won't result in burning a bridge from his past, he hoped that the world would throw him a bone.

In response to his earnest reply, Houki looked as if she was about to cry, before frowning, shaking her head a bit before looking away from Ichika.

"I-I would like that. Yes, that is, reasonable… Thank you…" The last part was said so quietly that Ichika almost missed it.

'Houki… did you hold on to that promise all these years? Sorry, I don't think I can answer that now but, perhaps one day I can.'

Time froze as the sound of glass breaking rang in his mind.

 _ **"I am thou, Thou art I…**_

 _ **Thou hast acquired a new vow.**_

 _ **It shall become the wings of revolution**_

 _ **That breaketh the gears of fate.**_

 _ **With the birth of the Fortune Persona,**_

 _ **I have attained the wings of blessing**_

 _ **That shall lead to freedom and new power."**_

Hearing Lavenza's voice confirming his new bond, he released a sigh of relief.

"Let's go, Houki. Class is going to start soon."

"Ah, I know."

While walking back, he noticed that a few girls must have followed them and eavesdropped.

'I hope nothing comes out of this.' Ichika hoped.

He felt that his bond with Houki was rather strong, it must have been due to their prior relationship.

Right now it was… Rank 4.

"Ichika?"

"Yes, Houki?"

"Congratulations."

"On what?"

"Um, you congratulated me earlier, right? It's only right I do so as well. I mean, I have heard about your exploits from here and there…"

"You mean the class gossip train?"

"..."

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Just take everything you hear with a grain of salt, however. Rumors tend to spread like wildfire in a school environment, separating truth from half-truths to outright slander is a key skill."

"But you still won all those tournaments, right?"

"Yeah, it wasn't a big deal for me."

"Is that so…?"

"Yup! The public, my classmates… they can say congratulations however much they like, but to me, just being congratulated by a friend I care about is worth more than billions of superficial praises."

Houki kept silent, but she was certainly smiling.

'Curious, I always thought she liked frowning.'

Ichika felt that they were getting closer as their bond ranked up.

* * *

Unfortunately, class was a bit of a hassle to Ichika and Houki since there was a lot of gossip of them doing lewd things on the roof.

'All we did was hold hands, what the hell?'

Ichika placed 'straightening things out' on the top of his list of priorities.

Other than that, he answered all the questions in class perfectly, surprising his assistant teacher that he honestly couldn't believe was a woman due to the fact that she was too adorable and shorter than a good amount of his classmates.

He felt his Knowledge increase!

Not! Growth 3 pretty much carves the information into his head after using it for so long, and even without it, his memory was pretty damn good.

During recess, as he was about to go talk to Houki, the blonde girl that really should have improved her ability to go with the flow approached him.

"Excuse me, may I have a moment of your time?"

Seeing that it was Cecilia Alcott and having remembered her self-introduction, he stood up to converse with her.

But first, he swapped to English, specifically, British English.

 _"Certainly so, Miss Cecilia Alcott. I do believe that I am able to allocate a fair and equitable amount of time relative to the officially allotted minutes for our mental recuperation given by this respectable institution in order to consider your words."_

"..." Cecelia was frozen for a good 10 seconds as she attempted to process what she had just heard.

English. Her preferred manner of speaking English. Without any mispronunciation at all.

Although, it pained her to admit it, but she had barely kept up with the rapid but clear and concise words that he spoke.

 _"You are… able to speak English well?"_ She asked the young man in her native tongue.

 _"I am able to speak, at minimum, 40 languages fluently excluding my own native tongue. I believed that it was prudent to enable myself to elegantly converse in many languages. It could well be argued that the present period that we live in is an era where globalisation has nearly grinded to a halt in response to increasing nationalism as the masses rally to whosoever will represent their nation in a competition with an intriguing historical resemblance to the Roman Empire's Gladiatorial Games."_

Ichika continued to use obfuscating language in order to deter her from getting in the way with spending time with Houki.

Although to be honest, he spoke in English mostly so that Cecilia will be comfortable by having the chancce to speak in her most proficient language.

 _"...Excuse me…?"_ Despite her use of formal language, it has been a good amount of time since she has had to deal with British Aristocracy, hence, she was unable to handle Ichika's grasp of the English Language.

 _"Miss Cecilia Alcott! I have postponed a matter of great personal importance to speak to you. Please, speak up or our graciously allotted period of time will be gone in the blink of an eye!"_

Meanwhile, the class and the rare few that could understand English were trying their best to understand what the hell he was saying to her.

 _"But...but.. You are deliberately confusing me!"_

 _"That is a baseless accusation. Did I not take the effort to speak in your native language in consideration to the fact that you have taken great efforts to learn the official language of this nation? I simply hoped that speaking in the language you are most comfortable with will put you at ease."_

 _"I-is that so? Well, in a manner of speaking you are-"_ Cecilia finally began to reply properly after stammering a little.

 ***Ding Dong***

Cecilia was cut off by the bell ringing, denoting the beginning of the third period of the day.

 _"Oh dear, we should really continue this lovely conversation of ours later."_ Ichika finished.

 _"Yes, we will."_

Despite her irritation of being confounded in a battle of words by a Japanese man, Cecilia Alcott felt a small bit of elation that she had found an intelligent conversation partner. Although, even then, she didn't think she would be able to handle that level of sophistry and formality.

She would make sure to find an excuse to get the man to tone the sophistication down to a more succinct level.

 **Arcana List**

 **Fool - Orimura Ichika (Nicodemus), Not yet attained.**

 **Magician- Gotanda Dan (Yagyu Jubei), Rank 8**

 **Chariot - Gotanda Ran (Kaihime), Rank 7**

 **Strength - Lavenza, Rank 7**

 **Fortune - Shinonono Houki, Rank 5**


	5. Class Representative Wannabes

AN: People seem to forget that Ichika is a bit of a smart-ass within the light novels, he just doesn't snark or he'll get beaten up badly for it.

I already have the fight planned out, time for SCIENCE! Cough, Ichika (Old Man Henderson + Batman + Swag) with Prep time is the worst opponent. This is some set up for the upcoming fight, and for canon to start diverging seriously, and also for a different type of starting relationship between Cecilia and Ichika.

There's already some foreshadowing for Palace Infiltration when it comes to people related to Cecilia. Charles will be a bit obvious after a trip to France, Houki's will be a lot later, Laura's will be a reference party...

Here's a clue, none of the Main Girls that you all are familiar with will have Palaces, but someone related to them or their backstories do. Take a guess.

 **Class Representative Wannabes**

In any event, Orimura Chifuyu took over from Yamada Maya who taught the first and second periods to teach the next class.

'Curious, Yamada-sensei is taking out a notebook. What is important enough that she needs to keep a record of?'

"For the remaining time, we'll mainly be describing all sorts of equipment that can be used in actual combat, and their characteristics."

'Oh dear, one would think that these IS Academy students would already be familiar with all of this.' Ichika thought to himself with a smart-ass tone in his head.

He doubted that the majority of the students who had to take up some degree of Engineering beforehand were all IS enthusiasts. It was likely for the status or expectations, perhaps a bit of nationalism, that encouraged the bulk of the Japanese majority students to enter the academy.

"Ah, but before that, we have to decide on the class representative who'll take part in the inter-class tournament."

'Hmm, perhaps this is…' Ichika wondered if this had to do with his fortune, specifically the Magician in the Upright position.

"The class representative is as its name indicates. The class representative will not only compete in the tournament, but will also attend student council meetings and committee meetings as well. Well, you can consider it like a class leader. On a side note, the inter-class battles are meant to gauge each enrolled class' ability. Though there isn't much difference right now, competition will encourage further improvement."

The class started to become abuzz.

'Yup, sounds like an opportunity to me. Then again, as the only male in several miles and/or kilometres depending on your preference, it's very likely that he even if he did attempt to take up the position for the Greater Good ™(Of course), there would be large protests.' Ichika narrated to himself in his head.

'Heh, as if I'll let that stop me.'

"Sensei! I nominate Orimura-kun" Some girl nominated him, taking a closer look, it was a cheerful girl named Aikawa Kiyoka.

'EHHHH!? My attempt has been upstaged? No, wait, upstaging implies I had begun something in the first place. Please, give me 3 more seconds to prepare my heart, I'm still in the planning phase you know?! Although on second thought, the attention would just be very bad for my activities. Ah, shit.'

"I feel that it's a great idea!"

"Yeah, wasn't he like, Student Council President for three years in a row? I bet he could do all the paperwork and attend meetings just fine."

'Their nominating me to do their paperwork!?'

Ichika quickly glanced at Houki and saw that she wasn't disapproving.

"...Considering his extensive repertoire of martial arts, his CQC should be more than adequate."

'Why Houki? Why do you do this to me? Then again, she makes a lot of sense. And it's not as if I'm a slouch in combat.'

Yes Ichika, three years of combat with Shadows ranging from Street level to Multi-city level battles tends to give you combat experience. Not that he would explicitly use that as an excuse.

"Isn't Orimura-kun kinda… overqualified?"

"Psh, who cares?"

"Yeah, perfect class representative right there."

During Ichika's various monologues, many other girls were throwing their support to him, baffling Ichika and a certain Cecilia Alcott.

The two of them were making rather flabbergasted expressions, and even looked at each other's own expressions, which only exacerbated their confusion when they saw that the both of them were in agreement to an extent with the singular thought of 'what the hell is happening?'

'Clearly Ms British Representative is the only sane person in this room!'

"Then the candidate will be Orimura Ichika... is there anyone else? You can either nominate yourself or another person, both are fine." Ichika's Chifuyu-nee continued, utterly unfazed.

"I nominate Cecilia Alcott." Ichika raised his hand and nominated his conversational partner that didn't really do much conversation at all.

"Huh?" His proclamation seems to have been met with unpreparedness on the side of the nominee.

"Ehh? Orimura-kun, why did you nominate her?"

"Yeah, she's like, totally stuffy and all."

Ignoring the other girls words, Ichika continued on.

"Please do not misunderstand. I am not rejecting the class consensus, however, considering that it's also the class representative's duty to battle in the inter-class tournament, it is only right that the representative has proven more than adequate battle ability in addition to administrative qualities. As such, considering that Miss Cecilia Alcott is a Cadet Representative of Britain, it is only right that a duel between us should be arranged to decide such matters as she has some proven credentials regardless of the class's opinion on her." Ichika explained his position on the matter.

'It is for the Greater Good ™! Since this is a year-long class commitment it's only right that the best choice (best fighter and best administrator) is chosen. Besides, it's a win-win situation.

If I lose, I get out of some responsibility while I can work on my own private skills, development, social links, plots and research.

If I win, well, I can still do all that, but I also get famous plus more chances to battle against other IS pilots, which is always good for experience.'

Upon reflection, Ichika was feeling pretty good about the situation so long as Cecilia plays along.

Cecilia Alcott, unfortunately, was in a bit of a bind. Well, not really, but due to the situation at hand she 'felt' like she was in one.

To her, the Japanese majority plus the other foreign students in the classroom had essentially ignored her own painstaking accomplishments to elect a man of all people, as class representative for a prestigious and important institution that was meant for women alone!

The part where they disregarded her two years of training using an IS for Japan's special snowflake of a man was enough to send her into a flying rage… most of the time. She had to admit that his accomplishments, even if they were not IS related, were outstanding and any other man would be hard pressed to match, much less surpass.

Worse yet, unlike herself, the younger Orimura was well liked (even if he didn't know it himself)... while in her case, she had to fend for herself at a young age to protect her family fortune after a train accident killed her spoiled weak useless male of a father and her mother… although it was weird since that was the first time they traveled together in a long while, in any case-!

*PAM!* Cecilia slammed her hands against the table as she got up from her seat.

"Don't be ridiculous! Having a man as our class representative is totally disgraceful! Do you expect me, Cecilia Alcott to endure this embarrassment for a whole year? There should be no question about it, I'm the most suitable one, even he agrees with it!"

"Uhh… she's taking his words out of context, isn't she?" The girls gossiped about Cecilia even as she continued and escalated by going into racist territory.

Eventually, Ichika and Cecilia ended up trading some barbs against each other's country, although Ichika's were more of an attack of her own arrogance, not that she could see it otherwise.

Yamada-sensei, who watched on, reminded them that Ichika said that they should arrange a duel for the spot earlier on, which Cecilia happily latched on.

"Be thankful, I am willing to give you a handicap in this duel." Cecilia declared haughtily.

Ichika rolled his eyes. "Oh please, once this is over you'll be wishing you asked me for a handicap." He retorted.

At that moment, the class erupted with laughter.

"O-Orimura-kun, are you serious?"

"Isn't a man being stronger than woman a story of the past?"

"Orimura-kun. Maybe you can pilot an IS, but that's just overdoing it."

Those words didn't particularly mean anything to him considering that he's fought the Reaper at the height of it's power alone on many occasions to hone his skills.

"... Regardless, should you be disarmed by my hand I'll throw my weapons away to make it a fair fight. I'll be giving you that handicap whether you like it or not." Still, Ichika was still had a gentleman's heart deep down there, although using various Persona's had covered that trait up quite a bit, he still didn't believe in fighting a woman seriously unless they're shadows or evil gods or monsters or Chifuyu.

"Such arrogance… it bothers me that I don't have to give you a handicap. Hum hum, saying that men are stronger than women, Japanese males really have quite a sense of humour."

"Hey, Orimura-kun, it's not too late, you know? You can still get Cecilia-san to give you a handicap?"

The girl sitting diagonally behind Ichika sincerely advised. However, the complicated expression of hers—the laughter and smirk that she was visibly holding back made Ichika feel a tiny bit petty.

"In a battle of life and death, there are no handicaps. As a Martial Artist, it is my duty to live my life without such safeguards, even in a non-lethal duel such as this."

As Ichika said those words, he swapped his Persona to his 'farming' money Persona, the one that can inflict ailments. This time, he used the inherited skill Devil's Smirk, to inflict fear on all the people present while standing to his full height, tensing up his muscles greatly.

He had to make up for the weakened power (which was also invisible) through some physical act, but even without doing such, he had essentially emulated anime/manga styled Killing Intent through that act.

At that moment, everyone in the room sans the user and Chifuyu were stricken by a brief irrational fear before Ichika sat down, letting the effect fade.

No one in his class ever mocked him for being male ever again.

…

* * *

After classes, Yamada-sensei called Ichika over.

"W-well, your dorm's rea-ready, Orimura-kun."

Yamada-sensei said with quite a bit of fear as she handed over a paper with the dorm number on it and a key to the young man.

'Poor Yamada-sensei. My bad. I will make it up to you, I promise.'

"The last I heard, my room was still undecided on. I heard that it might take a week, curious..."

"That's the case, but special circumstances require special solutions; it seems like you were forced to change rooms... Orimura-kun, have you heard anything from the government?"

The last few words were said softly, so that only he could hear them.

To be specific, she tip-toed and began whispering into his ear.

On a side note, the government she's referring to is obviously the Japanese government.

Without exception, there haven't been any 'male' IS pilots before, so even the country has taken measures to protect and keep watch over him despite essentially shunning their support in terms of IS provision.

Essentially, Ichika didn't exactly anger the government, but rather shunned their assistance as the Shiroshiki was teachnically not under Kuromochi or other government entity's rights to control thanks to the power of bureaucracy and national security.

Specifically, if other countries knew they had the Mother of all IS's, things would blow up. In this case, they could just blame it on Shinonono Tabane due to the timing and circumstances of it's appearance, yadda yadda, claim that Tabane wanted the Shiroshiki sent to Ichika as his personal IS just for kicks. A misdirection, a lie, but one that would hold for now… so long as they give no major Kuromochi patented support through weapons, parts, etc...

Kuromochi Hiro had elaborated that the Shirokishi was actually top secret until recently… as it actually only recently came and they took the core to irresponsibly plant it in the Byakushiki.

The man had said that it popped in his top secret engineering facility one day, as if someone sneaked it in. The CEO believed it was that 'damn Shinonono' woman.

He said they were trying their luck as they were going to use a different core for the Byakushiki initially, but Core Number 001 (Shirokishi) seemed to accept the Byakushiki Equalizers…

Well, back to the topic at hand, while Ichika was protected by the government, in terms of Personal IS and such things, he was on his own.

Which meant, no engineers, no mechanics, no state of the art facilities for maintenance (outside of what the IS Academy is willing to give for Personal IS Pilots), no funding (outside of the amount the IS Academy gives to students with a personal IS), and definitely no use of patented technologies.

Ichika was perfectly fine with that as the academy gave him a Fabricator (advanced 3-D printing), an advanced workshop and a few other basic things… and more importantly, they gave him privacy and security.

He would have the 'security' sorted out as soon as he 'dealt with' any trackers and surveillance devices + programs that they would have placed in the Shirokishi, his workshop, his 'free' computer by the government (Pft! Do they think he's naive?) and his dorm room.

He wouldn't outright destroy them, but would make sure nothing of value gets sent back to them through some of his hacking programs and other anti-surveillance techniques.

"Because of those circumstances, the government created a special directive. Anyway, you'll live in a dorm until your room is prepared in a month. So until then, please endure and live with the others."

"...Well, Yamada-sensei, while having a cute woman whisper sweet nothings into my ear is great and all..." Ichika teased her just for kicks, making his sensei flush a scarlet red and stammer all sorts of things like how this is 'improper' and all that nonsense.

Everyone else in the class really seems to be enjoying this side show, except for Houki who was now realising that Ichika was a womanizer.

"Ah, no, this is because... it wasn't on purpose..."

"Sure it was… haha, oh, right, thanks for arranging for my luggage to be brought to my room. I really appreciate it." Ichika replied Yamada-sensei before thanking Chifuyu-nee by passing her a small transparent bag of half a dozen Chocolate Truffles.

"Oh? I see you're on top of things. It's good to see that you know how to be grateful." Orimura Chifuyu replied him with a pleased smirk, glad that aside from some antics, he was independent and kept track of the important things.

Now, if only she could get him to notice the 'minor' details when it came to women… ah well, her younger brother gave her six of his best Chocolate Truffles.

The only type of dessert she would unashamedly indulge in would be her brother's work.

'Damn him and his heavenly cooking/baking/confectionery making skills!' Chifuyu cursed within her head.

She had to spare some extra time working off the sugar and fats from it when they stayed together.

"Um… Orimura-san, can I have one?"

"Over my dead body."

As Yamada meekly attempted to request for her new favorite chocolate treat, Chifuyu sadistically denied her while savoring the chocolates made by her brother in front of her assistant teacher and the classroom.

By then, Ichika and Houki had already left the classroom (as did Cecilia), so it was only the female students with no guts that were subjected to such a torture.

Ichika really did make heavenly chocolate truffles.


	6. First Flight: Part 1

AN: Okay, I had a longggg day. I didn't expect to write this chapter for today but whatever! Time to go to sleep... I'll say answer a few things that TenRyuGa had asked beforehand, The Laura related Palace is someone else, Rin's is a bit more complicated, Madoka... oh, I have plans for her, whether she gets a happy or 'bad' ending depends on the story. If it feels natural, then I'll have to do it.

Ichika's denseness is mainly because he actually loves his role a little too much. The Metaverse, no matter how dangerous, depressing, distorted it can be... is his real home to him, outside of when Chifuyu is with him. Nicodemus will be helping him go use the 'Solomon Solution' for the sake of the greater good, but he's Jewish so don't expect much help from him.

Speaking of Jewish... today I watched _**WONDER WOMAN!**_

Holy... it was AMAZING! Ha, Best Superhero Movie ever! Best DC Film Ever! The villain... **_You'll Never See It Coming!_**

Gal Gadot was so good in her role, I can't even... it was just very good, at least. I teared up a bit at a certain important point...

Of course, don't let my hype you guys up or anything, it's only my opinion.

 **First Flight: Part 1**

"Room 1025, ah, here it is."

"Um, Ichika?"

"Yes, Houki?"

"...It's my room too."

"I see. I see...so they believe they are cunning in using our history to their advantage then? Attempting to use my sentiments in order to lower my guard, perhaps? Fascinating…"

"Ichika! What are you talking about? And how can you chuckle in this sort of situation?! Boys and girls can't share the same bed after they turn 7, it's common sense! Why, did the government arrange this situation for?! Have they gone mad?"

As Ichika began pondering what defined 'common sense' for Houki, he decided that women are the sort of people he would never understand and simply decided to shelve that thought for more important ones.

They had walked back to their dorms together, and ended up finding out that they were to be roommates. Unlocking the door, he took stock of the dorm room.

'Not too shabby, the two large beds are definitely high-class. Seriously, IS pilots are being treated like foreign diplomats here… sigh, honestly, the money can be used elsewhere, perhaps I should loot my own bed to sell it for cash? After that, I can replace it with some futon or something. It's not like I need sleep or anything.'

Regenerate 3 allowed him to keep on going without food, water and sleep (plus possible other things) without suffering any physical damages to his brain and body. Invigorate 3 was mainly for the mental energy and physical state of being energetic.

Ichika unloaded his luggage and offered Houki to take her shower first while he settled down.

"You're not allowed to peek!"

"I am a supporter of privacy, please, be rest assured that yours will be safe with me around."

"Then… don't touch my underwear or… anyways! I will do my own laundry."

"I hear you loud and clear Houki."

"But… boys your age would have all these perverted interests… right?"

"I handled many years of Chifuyu-nee's dirty laundry, so I'm not going to panic just because of a piece of girl's underwear. Don't forget… I grew up living with Chifuyu-nee, the feelings of 'I'm living with a girl! My heart is beating like crazy! I'm so nervous!' and all that nonsense is basically non-existent."

And that was basically how the conversation between Houki and Ichika went on.

Ichika wanted to wait until Houki was definitely showering before he got to work, so he did something productive and checked the fridge, finding it pretty much empty.

'Right… prestigious boarding school on some island… then again, there should definitely be places where we can stock up on some food. Deliveries will have to be screen on the way in but they will normally be allowed.'

When he heard the telltale sign of running water from the bathroom, he walked quickly to his bed, opened up a book while using a sleight of hand to move his modified P.A.D. in between the pages.

He lied down, making sure that the P.A.D. could not be seen.

And then he activated the program to freeze the images of the cameras in the room while letting the timestamp continue on.

'I have a few minutes, let's make this quick.'

First, he slipped the very important item from one of his pouches under his blanket for later use.

Next, using a bit of tools, he found all the camera's plus listening devices and sabotaged them so that they will have at a later time. And when they fail, they shall be somehow 'swept up' in one of Ichika's cleaning routines.

What a shame!

He'll also ensure that he places some discrete traps that was inspired from Death Note so that he'll know when other people had entered his room. That way, when they attempt to replace the camera's and other devices, he'll make a complain that his room isn't secure because someone broke into the room… with evidence that he can get Houki to backup with a bit of convincing.

Next up, a quick debug on the government provided laptop and other devices. Using some super speed, he quickly dismantled and re-assembled his computer, hooray for lots of tools in his puch, getting rid of the physical keyloggers and other sorts of things.

After that, he checked some messages and-

*Knock Knock*

Some bugger knocked on the door, he opened it up to find some random teacher telling him to go to his workshop right away and everything.

'That Kuromochi guy… if he's this enthusiastic plus considering the way he sees me, I suppose I will have to play the part.'

After leaving a note to Houki, saying he had matters to resolve, he left for the location he was supposed to go.

* * *

The workshop looked pretty boring other than some tables, computers, the large Fabricator and the Shirokishi in the middle.

The Kuromochi CEO and his older sister were waiting for him.

"I see you didn't take your own sweet time. Good, keep it up." His sister told him before allowing Kuromochi Hiro, to say his piece.

The cleanly cut middle aged man was smiling and looking rather joyous, although Ichika sensed that he was looking for something in particular.

All in all, he hated the talk for the most part.

He ended up having to spew some subtle shit about despising the weak and that people should rise above what is expected of them in a total derisive manner in regards to society.

He even had to call the populace 'sheep' to garner the man's interest while implying that Ichika didn't trust the Kuromochi Hiro as well, and he talked some stuff about how morals were for the weak and created by society. (Outside of Chifuyu-nee's hearing)

Although… they were united in their hate for the world's current government.

"It's such a shame. Despite all the talk about reducing their culpability in the Shirokishi's presence, they went ahead with confiscating Shirokishi's beam sword and particle gun. Of course, they say the results of the reverse engineering will be yours and all but I'm certain we both understand how the game is played." The middle aged man continued to deride his own company men and the government, seeing himself above it all.

'Such arrogance…' Ichika snarled internally.

"Hmm, I would expect nothing less from a bunch of decrepit old men that clinging to their fading influence. All these years, all the technology… wasted on weaponry and other pursuits. For what? Their so-called 'power'? They do not know the true meaning of power at all." Ichika joined the man in mocking the Japanese government, although, he believed quite a bit of what he said, only the context was entirely different from what Kuromochi Hiro believed that Ichika was thinking about.

"Yes, exactly that Ichika-sama… can I call you that? I mean, with your 'Perfect' body, I think I'm only giving the respect you deserve." The hypocritical suck-up replied to Ichika's remarks.

By 'Perfect', the man was referring to Ichika's body that he personally sculpted through the torture, *ahem*, training regiment that Nicodemus learnt from various sources. Thanks to Regenerate 3, he managed to gain strength without worry of degradation with some tough training every day for the last three years.

At this point in time, he had already transformed his body to the absolute peak of human physical potential. Transforming all his muscle into pink tissue, Ichika had reached the perfect balance between speed and stamina with strength and durability and has conditioned both to their highest possible level.

Honestly, that idea came from an old manga he read, where this Master Jujutsu Practitioner had the most 'Perfect' muscle build and definition.

Ichika could scarcely believe it was achievable until he did it himself.

During the government check-ups, they had already noted that he was the fittest human being in their records. Of course, they didn't want the information to get out just yet, in case Ichika would make an even more valuable target.

"Hmm, very well then. However, allow me to remind you… It might be the respect I deserve, but it is not the respect I need right now. After all, why would a man desire the respect of ants?" Ichika calmly laid it out with a smug smirk, while inwardly despising the sheer hypocrisy from Kuromochi Hiro, who didn't consider himself as one of the ants due to sheer arrogance in being more 'enlightened' for finding his ' **Übermensch** '.

"Of course, that would be ludicrous… only those enlightened would be considered human enough to pay their proper dues to you."

'You utter sycophant! Fucking monster!' Ichika thought with disgust.

 _ **"I am thou, Thou art I…**_

 _ **Thou hast acquired a new vow.**_

 _ **It shall become the wings of revolution**_

 _ **That breaketh the gears of fate.**_

 _ **With the birth of the Tower Persona,**_

 _ **I have attained the wings of blessing**_

 _ **that shall lead to freedom and new power."**_

'...God damn it, I have to make an effort to understand him, I guess. There has got to be a reason for his distortion! Just you wait… I'll steal your treasure.'

Eventually he left Ichika and Chifuyu to their own devices, much to their pleasure.

"... What a scumbag." Ichika casually said to his sister.

"I was thinking the same thing. Regardless, he has his uses." Chifuyu heartlessly commented.

"So long as whatever he does… doesn't cause any more trouble for you, Chifuyu-nee, then I'm as happy as can be."

Chifuyu 'lightly' smacked his back, pleased that he didn't even flinched.

"I can handle myself just fine, idiot. I'm more worried about you. Here you are, making enemies on day one." Chifuyu referenced Cecilia.

"I just can't help it sometimes. Besides, one day you'll find that you won't need to worry about me anymore." Ichika told her, gaining a small frown.

"Yes, you've grown strong Ichika… still, worrying for her younger brother is the privilege of an older sister, not a burden."

"... I know, and I want you to know that I that there's not a single day I don't worry about you too… until I remember that you'll lay the smack-down on whatever comes your way."

"Damn right, idiot!"

 _ **"I am thou, Thou art I…**_

 _ **Thou hast acquired a new vow.**_

 _ **It shall become the wings of revolution**_

 _ **That breaketh the gears of fate.**_

 _ **With the birth of the Empress Persona,**_

 _ **I have attained the wings of blessing**_

 _ **that shall lead to freedom and new power."**_

"Now, let's get old Shirokishi here calibrated to you. Even though it's an old model it can still shrink down to a trinket for you to materialize it from.

"You would know… wouldn't you?"

Chifuyu's only response was a sly smile, and Ichika couldn't help himself from matching it.

He may have a lot on his mind, like meeting up with his team in the Metaverse after this or how he would train using his IS later, or gather up information on Cecilia for next week... and even how to convince Dan on going public...

But for now, he'll enjoy the little precious time he could spend alone with his sister.

 **Arcana List**

 **Fool - Orimura Ichika (Nicodemus), Not yet attained.**

 **Magician- Gotanda Dan (Yagyu Jubei), Rank 8**

 **Chariot - Gotanda Ran (Kaihime), Rank 7**

 **Strength - Lavenza, Rank 7**

 **Tower- Kuromochi Hiro, Rank 1**

 **Fortune - Shinonono Houki, Rank 5**

 **Empress- Orimura Chifuyu, Rank 5**


	7. Interlude: Passing Years, Ran

AN: Next up, some prep before the battle I guess. More social links with certain characters that have been butterflied into interacting with Ichika… etc...

 **Interlude: Passing Years, Ran**

"Times are changing honey, you've got to show these boys who's the boss these days."

'But isn't that just being mean to Otou-san and Onii-chan?'

"Ran, put those dolls away! Look what I've got form K'Nex Education… 'Introduction to Machinery'. These days, all girls need to get a head start on engineering so-"

'Aww…'

No matter her feelings on the matter, she simply went with the flow her mother and the society around her had set as an example.

"Hey, Onii? What'cha up to?"

"Hmm, oh, learning how to play the guitar."

"Is it fun?"

"Why don't you give it a try then? I'll teach you."

It was a time of radical social upheaval in terms of gender norms, it didn't take long for her mother to find out about it.

Apparently, the latest controversy was surrounding the topic of women and music… some gender role debates led by those back in 'the old days' as 'feminists', of course, they weren't called that nowadays.

As Ran grew older, she managed to attach a word to it, 'Misandry'.

Yeah, Misandry was spreading to an absurd degree, and there wasn't a thing she could do about it nor did she care enough to do something about it.

Well… until she heard about her brother Dan talking about this super awesome boy that is like, super brave and absolutely 'ripped' at twelve years old that he met in his first day of middle school.

"An Eight-Pack at twelve years old? Are you serious?"

"Why would I ever lie to my cute imouto? Here, take a look."

He showed her a photo of a really handsome boy posing and OHMYGAWD HE'S SO HOT!

Wait, he's twelve so that doesn't actually work that way, right?

At that time, sneaking out to follow her brother to the park was perhaps not the smartest idea. All she wanted to do was see this Ichika guy, he seemed really nice at a distance, cool, polite and through his slightly-too-tight shirt she could see he was ripped.

And then the world shifted.

Suddenly she wasn't watching her brother and his friend from a bush anymore, instead, she was in some dark damp place with creepy dolls in weird perverted dresses lining up the walls.

"Tch! The Palace hasn't changed at all." Her brother clicked his tongue in anger, eh? He was in full Samurai armour?

"It's not supposed to change. The layout might change the deeper you go but either way, all parts of it should express that bastard's world view." Ichika, who's friendly speaking manner had all but morphed into one of cold pragmatism, explained to her brother.

She had no idea what was going on, she was scared but…

"How did you know that? And what the hell? I thought we were going to enter through the safe-room!"

"Calm yourself Dan. I see… this park must be his favoured hunting ground, a place he considers his territory and extension of his little dungeon… fascinating."

"I don't FUCKING see what's so interesting about that evil perverted fucker targeting my SISTER!"

'Eh, what? Dan never swears like that, he's always so laid back and…'

"I was merely being observant. Any piece of information that could help us reach his 'Treasure' is paramount. I apologise if I came off insensitive. It was my bad, Dan."

"A-ah, never-mind. I shouldn't have gotten mad. Ichika."

"Gotanda Dan… are you perhaps a Saint? Of course you're not, therefore, do not think that anger is unnatural. I, too, am seriously considering killing the man now that we've fully investigated the extent of his crimes."

'K-kill? Her brother is hanging out with a killer? Wait, why does this guy they're going after sound so evil?'

Her vision began to darken then, and before she passed out, she saw a dark figure looming over her with a lecherous smile before she heard her brother screaming her name.

… When she woke up, she found herself chained to a wall, her arms spread eagle above her head, similarly her legs were spread apart and bound as well… eh, where did her clothes go?

A loud crash alerted her to the fact that her brother and his friend were fighting some giant eight armed monster.

"Curse him! Yagyu Jubei! **EIHA**!" Her brother shouted, and tendrils of shadows erupted from the ground, scaring the monster in front of her.

Suddenly, her arm was free.

"Huh?"

"Yo!" The boy covered in a tattered black cloak greeted her as he held a gun, and shot the bindings off her other arm, and legs in an instant. "The rescue team is here."

The masked boy and her brother really seemed heroic now.

"YOU- HOW DARE YOU STEAL MY TOY!"

And then the boy threw her to the side, saving her from the maddened monster's attack.

Only for the boy to have been sliced in half from his right shoulder diagonally down to his waist.

"ICHIKA! No... RAN, run away now!"

And then that's when everything went wrong, she was too afraid to do anything and shortly after, her twelve year old brother had his lower body completely mangled as the monster tore his legs apart from his waist.

 _ **"Will you just cover right there? While those boys that your mother would count as lesser than you give their lives for your sake? Why don't you run in order to honour their sacrifice?"**_ A stern voice rang painfully through her head.

"No...There's no way I'll… I won't leave Onii-chan to die!"

 _ **"I see… then lead the charge and drive away the evil from these lands."**_

 _ **"Then you have sworn an oath, this is our contract."**_

 _ **"I am Thou, Thou art I…"**_

 _ **"With my power you shall rout your enemies!"**_

 _ **"My name is Kaihime, let us end this bloodshed!"**_

Before she knew it, she was clothed in some kind of kimono, but right now, all she wanted to do was to kill the monster than did...this, to her brother!

" **Bufu**!"

At first, she thought the ice crashing against the monster looked really pathetic, until it got knocked down.

"Heh… so that's it's weakness." She turned around and saw the boy, Ichika, barely standing up.

His body was only partially attached together, she could see flesh and blood slowly knitting itself together.

Ichika's hand moved to his face, and the mask changed.

"Kaguya! **Mediarama** " The metallic lady released a brilliant shower of light that recovered his body and-

"Onii-chan!"

The bleeding had stopped, and his friend used the time they had to reattach her brother's legs, before using that special ability again to fix his legs and heal his body.

"Man… healing is so OP- GARK! Ran! You're hurting my ribs!"

"Idiot! Stupid! What were you doing!? Why are you fighting that monster and-"

"...I'll let you two have your time together. Now that I know it's weakness, I'll deal with him myself."

The battle was over as her brother's friend froze the monster over and over, before it returned to the size of a man, who was promptly interrogated and 'robbed' of his 'treasure'.

The next day, that man confessed to having kidnapped, raped and killed several young girls.

Even through they didn't want it at the time, she forced her way into their group so that she could fight against such evils… but more importantly, so that her brother and his friend wouldn't get themselves killed.

They cleared four palaces in one year, along with getting well over a dozen people to change by defeating and talking to their shadows in their local Memento's.

The next year, she vehemently protested her mother's decision to enter her into an all girls school, she managed to attend the same middle school as Ichika and Dan so long as she kept her studies up.

It wasn't hard, Ichika was a good teacher and really smart so that was that.

He also was the Student Council President for the previous year, and had won his re-election the year she joined, bringing her as his Vice-President.

The Student Council Room was their base of operations for the year, Dan had taken up the General Secretary role while the other roles were deliberately filled up with lazy people who wouldn't attend so that they could have the room to themselves.

It was a good time, despite the danger she placed herself in.

Those years, she truly could be herself when it was just the three of them.

There was no need to keep up with the latest 'superior women' trends and all sorts of things, she learned and played as she liked. Of course, work hard and play hard was the mentality of Orimura Ichika so that certainly was an experience. Her brother would prefer the play hard bit, but the threat of being a 'sparring partner' was more than enough to get him to work hard on his own.

In their second year together, they cleared ten palaces and changed dozens of hearts outside that. In their third year, that number doubled.

"Hey Ran?"

"Ichika-kun?"

"Have you decided what you're going to do from here on out?"

"What do you mean? Won't we keep doing the 'save the world', play the model student thing?"

"Times and seasons change Ran. One day, something might happen and… do you have a hobby?"

"Well, I like music so…"

"Awesome! Let's start with that then! We start off with something you like and see how we can make a living out of it… or just have fun. I have our money in various bank accounts and successful investments right now so worst comes to worst you can retire living an affluent life."

'Ah, Ichika-kun really is reliable. Considerate, helpful… always concerned about her… but there was always this deep scar in his heart, from his past, that she wished she could help him with.'

In Ichika's and Dan's final year in middle school, they started learning to dance together. It was a fun activity, dancing to the music that Ichika paid to a composer and singer. Dan was pretty salty about the money until Ichika earned it back.

Haa… her Onii-chan can be a real miser at times. Apparently, he was really good with numbers, he put that talent to use in helping Ichika manage our ridiculous amount of 'semi-legal' funds along with building all sorts of gadgets.

"Maybe I'll be an investor in the future… that way I can work from home." Her brother said, one day.

"Haa… just don't get so lazy that you'll end up a fat-ass." She complained half-halfheartedly.

"*Sniff* I wish my sister was as nice as your sister sometimes…" Ichika shed some crocodile tears while Dan accused her of being some violent sister that would make a bad girlfriend.

'AHHH! Stupid Onii making it harder for Ichika-kun to see me as a woman!'

* * *

 **April 2nd, 20XX (Midnight)**

…

Ichika-kun could pilot an IS, their activities were put on hold to an extent. During those months, all they did was gather lots of information on possible targets overseas.

"Onii?"

"Yeah, Ran?"

"... I really think we can make a difference if we went public."

"Yeah, I agree."

"Now hear me out, I think that… huh?! You agree?!"

"Seeing that this is the kind of world that would lock up my bro-for-life just for being able to pilot an IS? Yeah… I think the world needs a wake-up call. It's this kind of society… this nationalistic insular focus on national interest that's fucking up the world."

"Doesn't it just messes it up for men these days?"

"Psh! Nah, even now most corporations, governments, and military are owned by those older men clinging to power. It's a fragile hold, but anyways, everyone's affected… the fact that more and more people are becoming distorted is something we can't ignore."

She nodded, agreeing to her brother's points.

Ichika had said it many times.

The world still hasn't changed, not one bit from those years ago.

This new era of world peace brought about by Shinonono Tabane's IS is fake.

Resource shortages, societal and internal conflicts within nations hasn't changed, economic inequality has gotten even worse, the financial markets stopped making sense ages ago… it was only a matter of time before things blew up.

And to Gotanda Ran, she believed that they could change the world.

They had to make people realise these issues on all levels of society, Ichika's new plan to get people to not just change their hearts, but to also encourage them to take action by influencing their Shadows from all the Memento's around the world was the only thing they could do now.

Well, aside from gaining influence in the real world to make some positive change.

Ichika was certain that if he could research the IS more, he could invent something to actually help the world in ways outside weaponry, outside of the continued global stalemate of false peace.

She admired him, and she wanted to be beside him all the way.

Now, if only he didn't attend some high security ALL GIRLS SCHOOL!

Finally, after a long first day back at school, Ran and her brother went to the IS Academy within the Metaverse to meet up with Ichika.

"Yo! Sorry, I'm late guys. You won't believe the whacked up day I had." Ichika shook her brother rapidly, desperate for some support.

"Um, Ichika-kun, would you like some good news?" Ran raised her voice a little.

"YESSS! Anything would make me feel a little better now!" What kind of day Ichika had been through to be so dramatic!?

"Dan said-" Ran began, only to be interrupted by the subject of the topic.

"-That I agree with your Phantom Thieves of Hearts plan." Dan sighed, as Ichika jumped into the air as high as a few kilometers/miles before dropping back to the ground without a scratch, utterly happy about the news.

"NICE! We'll need some new codenames through… oh yeah, my day went like this…"

Ok, let see…

Velvet Room, Fated Journey, Kicking some hired fighters asses, meeting the Kuromochi CEO that is definitely crazy in the head, doing some weird introduction to his class, gaining an entourage of gossiping curious girls, meeting his childhood friend again, setting up a duel next week with the British Cadet Representative, disarming security in his dorm room, SHARING his form room with his totally hot CHILDHOOD FRIEND (AHHHH! What kind of shitty harem situation is this? My chances, *Sniff*!), meeting the Kuromochi evil sycophant again, frowing closer with his older sister, finally calibrating the Shirokishi (*Gasp* The legendary IS… that is also obsolete in some ways), settling some things with childhood friend, getting dinner with much harassment from the female population, the newspaper club paparazzi chasing him after seeing his 'perfectly sculpted' body (No arguments there…), hiding out in his room until Houki brought him his dinner, inflated his body balloon in his bed to make it look like he's still in his room before entering the Metaverse to finally meet them.

"...Can't you just fucking enjoy your magical mecha battle harem academy anime already? Why must you min-max your time like that? Just fucking chill for one day!" Her brother shook Ichika like a madman as he raved at the 'cruel world'.

"It wasn't me, it was them!" Ichika vented at the 'unfairness of the world'.

'Yeah, more like, unfairness to non-childhood friends characters and... wait, don't I count as a childhood friend character? Maybe I have a chance... Yeah!'

"Unlike you, Ichika can multitask." Ran jabbed at her brother while containing her inner resolution.

"I can multi-task just fine!" He protested.

"The 'Oven' Incident…" Ichika drawled and Ran happily latched onto Ichika's reminder.

"I spent the entire day explaining to teachers that, no, I'm not a Gyaru and that it wasn't a fashion statement."

"One time…"

 **Wise Up!**

 **Kaihime**

 **Level: 76**

 **Arcana: Chariot**

 **Resists: Ice**

 **Weak: Nuclear**

 **Skills: Concentrate, Mabufudyne, Diamond Dust (Replaces Bufudyne), Matarukaja, Ice Amp, Ice Boost, Brave Blade, Myriad Slashes**


	8. First Flight: Part 2

AN: The relationship with Lingyin is similar, but different. I'm setting up some social links before getting into the fight with Cecilia. Small timeskip incoming I suppose, after a bit more details.

 **First Flight Part 2**

 **April 2nd 20XX, 3:22 am (Japan Time)**

'Hmm, took us long enough. Finally, someone's Shadow with enough clearance and information…' Ichika didn't allow his smirk of triumph to manifest on his face as he, and his friends were keeping the Shadow of a British Engineer in a hold up.

It took awhile to get some information, names and other details from other Shadow versions that they found in several of the UK's Memento's, until they finally found someone's Shadow that definitely had the information they wanted.

Memento's was a place where the collective negativity of the masses would gather, they usually would have one for every populated city. Smaller towns, cities, would pool together to form a Memento's.

In a way, Memento's would be the 'Palace of Everyone's Hearts'.

People with a certain amount of negativity in their hearts would have their Shadows manifest in Memento's, in which they share the same memories and can manifest a demon form.

With the Metaverse Navigator, they can enter a name and some key words associated with the person's Shadow they are looking for in order to track them.

A convenient tool that was very useful for them in acquiring several technologies along the way, as things in the cognitive world can manifest as Shadows desire it, when interrogated in a certain way, they could even give them full reports of information they wanted.

Ichika had already taken the time to memorize and learn several weapons technology from some scientists and engineers they interrogated, along with key national secrets that he got from some officials.

"Now then, Mr. Richards Walker. Would you care to give me everything you know about the Blue Tears IS model?" Ichika began interrogating in a polite manner.

"Fuck No!" The short-haired glasses wearing Shadow denied him.

"Oh? I must insist that you reconsider." Ichika lowered his gun, reached forward and tore off the Shadow's legs, forcing it to crawl pitifully on the ground.

"AARRGGHHH!"

"Ah, I see that you have taken a seat. Splendid… you may give me a full report from the ground then. After all, you do not need your legs for sitting."

"O-okay… please… I'll tell you everything I know. H-Here! Better yet, I'll give it to you."

"Good… here, let me fix your legs."

Ichika fixed the Shadows legs by healing it, and sent it scurrying along the way after asking it a few questions and giving some 'advice' to change his way of thinking to a positive one.

"Man, that was fucking cold." Dan commented in a laid-back manner while adjusting his helmet, at this point, he was used to Ichika's methods of asserting his authority.

"Hmm, unfortunately we are on a time limit. Time is a finite resource for every living being, after all. I, am no exception to the rule. Doing things efficiently without negative consequences in the real world is simply the rationale I choose to follow." Ichika mused as he quickly went through the report left behind on the Blue Tears.

What pleased him the most was how obstinate the British government was on the effectiveness of the IS on long range combat, utterly neglecting the melee aspects.

Furthermore, the neural bandwidth needed to operate the optical drones was very high… it could have been reduced had they added some basic programming to the laser bits but they believed that doing so would risk them being hacked by their enemies.

Smart, but paranoid to a fault.

It was a weakness that Ichika would take advantage of.

He already had the most efficient plan in mind.

He had decided to use it since that way he wouldn't need to reveal any particularly advanced weaponry that he had been working on before the whole IS issue. Of course, those advanced weaponry were never finished due to the lack of certain components, but now that they had a Fabricator to use in the IS Academy once Ichika finished clearing it of potential ways of information leaks, they were free to use it for their own component crafting so long as they had scrap material to salvage from.

Dan and Ran would be able to help Ichika gather some material when he needed it and sneak it through the metaverse.

"Ichika-kun… you don't have a fetish for gore, right?" Ran asked, seemingly extremely concerned.

"What? No! My fetishes lie elsewhere, I swear Ran."

"Name them." She challenged him.

"No thanks." Ichika immediately denied hurriedly.

"Tch!"

"You said something?"

"Nope!"

Later, they discussed how they were going to work on their Phantom Thieves of Hearts debut.

Ichika proposed his plan that he made through refining the mistakes he remembered Yagami Light made from Death Note.

"What drew suspicion to Light was the fact that he was hasty in writing down the name of a person's name he believed was L when he was challenged on a so called 'global broadcast'. We will make sure they never come to that conclusion. It is unfortunate, but we will have to disavow our previous successes in Japan." Ichika summarised to his friends, and was met with a range of reactions.

"Ehh?! You can't be serious? That means we have to start all over again, right?!" Ran reacted hastily, before her brother calmed her down with a hand to the shoulder.

"Wait, Ichika has a point. If we announced that we have been operating in Japan for years, then they might narrow us down to Japan, then to our hometown, then finally to our school. If we start again on a global scale then they wouldn't be able to pinpoint our location." Dan explained what Ichika meant, earning a nod of acknowledgement.

"That's right. Starting from today, and from the previous Shadows we encountered, we will do a week long marathon of stealing Treasures of high-profile individuals from several powerful countries!

Finally, we will have a true global broadcast of our actions on 3:33 a.m. Japan Time, Tuesday. I will work on filming our message in every single language for each individual country that we will hack into when delivering our message.

From the TV displays in New York, Tokyo… the advertisement screens in Trafalgar Square, London… all the broadcasting channels on the various satellite TV's… I will make a program to deliver the message at the exact same time from some Russian servers that I already gained accessed to. Ensuring that I name every individual that had confessed their actions.

Oh, yes… before that, we will reserve a palace for a last minute steal before predicting that the person would confess their crimes, ensure the calling card is in place and when he does, the masses would believe that we exist and that our reach is beyond what the eye can see!"

"Then… if that were the case, everyone would believe that the Phantom Thieves are a global phenomenon! As expected of Ichika-kun!" Ran applauded him while her brother got a 'thank you for explaining' pat on the back.

"Exactly. Anyways… thank you, the both of you, for following me in this revolution of mine… I really appreciate it, I can't thank you enough. It means a lot to me and-"

Dan pulled Ichika into a manly hug, "Bro, enough man! I bought into a vision of a better world ages ago. If there's anything being your friend taught me, it's that you're the best person for the job…

The only thing I'm really worried about is Ran's safety now-"

"Onii! I can take care of myself!" She complained.

"-And that she's growing up too fast by getting into this stuff." Dan continued on after hearing Ran's words, before looking Ichika in the eyes seriously.

"I'll make sure she's well taken care of no matter what happens. That, I swear it." Ichika promised with no hesitation whatsoever.

"Heh...If things go to hell, I know, after all these years that you are a man that will throw himself under the bus for the both of us. It's because of that… I would do the same for you, any time. Ichika."

Those words that Dan had held back all these years, stemmed from a few reasons.

His hesitation and worry over involving his sister was the main reason, but there was also many concerns on whether his friend would drag them into doing things they wouldn't want to do.

There was also that Social Link, Confidant system that he admitted to them right from the beginning. He was afraid that Ichika would just say the right words or act in a certain way to use them.

And while he knew the possibility was there, after all the years, he knew Ichika would never do that to them. It was after Ran mentioned that Ichika was preparing for a worst case scenario so that the two siblings could live in peace and luxury without any blame should the worst happened to him that Dan knew, for sure, that Ichika placed their well being over himself.

Ichika didn't think of himself as some special snowflake that was indisposable unlike others because of his Wild Card powers, or his fate… he simply acknowledged that he was a bit special but treated them as important, if not more so, than himself.

It was then, that their accumulated interactions and time spent together had unblocked what had kept Dan from fully committing to Ichika's journey.

 _ **"I am thou, thou art I…**_

 _ **Thou hast turned a vow into a blood oath,**_

 _ **Thy bond shall become the wings of revolution**_

 _ **That breaketh thou from fate's grasp,**_

 _ **Thou hast awakened to the ultimate secret**_

 _ **Of the Magicians, granting thee infinite power..."**_

"Huh?!" Dan stumbled back briefly as his Persona manifested above him automatically.

The Samurai Persona nodded, acknowledging the growth of Dan's heart and ability to trust, before the Persona was reborn.

In it's place was a god sitting upon dark clouds, half-covered in white garments that radiated a black miasma.

" **Kokuten Hachiman** …" Dan found himself automatically mouthing the name of his evolved Persona.

Dark Deva Hachiman.

"New power… haha, man, is this for real? I can't say this is troublesome at all… With this power I'll knock some sense into you if you ever lose your way, alright, Ichika?"

"... Heh, you better! What are bro's for?" Ichika earnestly replied, amazed that Dan's Persona evolved once he decided to fully trust Ichika and maxed their Social Link.

Ran was a bit jealous at the bromance, but was sensitive enough to just bear witness of the moment, eagerly awaiting the day that she could entrust herself fully to Ichika just as her brother did.

Of course, in a non-platonic and different manner…

Well, reality had to set in at some point and Ichika needed to go back to bed to deflate the body dummy.

Dan and Ran could live without sleep if they alternated the Regen Patch 3 and SP Adhesive 3 they had, recovering their physical and mental health after a bit of time.

OP accessories for the win!

* * *

 **April 2nd 20XX, 6:15 am (Japan Time)**

Ichika went back to the IS Academy, showered (which woke Houki up) and went over to the first year's Cafeteria.

"Hmm… could be better…" Ichika muttered as he examined his typical Japanese breakfast.

"Is the taste such a big deal? So long as the proper nutrition is there then-" Houki delivered a typical response Ichika expected.

"I get what you're saying. But first of all, I need more food than this, and in addition to that, I'm merely pointing out the reduction of quality when cooking for massive amounts of students. I'll find out where we can get some ingredients later, after that I'll wake up early enough to pack us breakfast and lunch from now on."

"Huh?! There's no need for that! Ichika… you already have so many burdens and-"

"Come on Houki! You're my roommate."

"...Eh? What does that have to do with anything?"

"You're my roommate, so that means I'm taking care of you too. Taking care of you includes ensuring that you have good meals to eat every morning and afternoon… maybe dinner too."

"...You're saying that you're willing to cook for me everyday?"

"So long as it's feasible, yes."

"Oh…"

Houki was silent after that as Ichika didn't think much of the fact that it was basically a typical Japanese indirect way of saying 'marry me'.

Well, only if he said that he'll cook her 'miso soup' everyday, but the sentiment was touching to Houki even if she had the feeling he didn't mean it that way.

"Look look, he's the famous boy ~~"

"Seems like he's also Chifuyu nee-sama's younger brother, you know."

"Huh—, so both siblings are IS users? Is he strong?"

Today's the same as usual.

The girls kept their distance, forming a perimeter around Ichika (plus Houki who was with him), known as 'even though he's delicious, don't be greedy'... the same kind of feeling he got from middle school, just worse thanks to the all-girls school upbringing that most of the IS Academy students had, ensuring that their curiosity about males were very high despite looking down on them most of the time.

"Orimu~ Can we sit here please?" One of his classmates, who gave him a nickname, asked along with three other girls.

She had sleepy yellow eyes and pink shoulder length hair, most of which hung free, the exception being two small pigtails on either side of her head held in place by yellow fox-themed hair ties.

Nohotoke Honne, Ichika recalled.

"Nohotoke-san? Please, go ahead. It is not as if I booked the seat. Is that alright with you, Houki?"

"... I have just finished eating. I shall meet you in class then, Ichika."

"Hmm, alright then. Stay safe Houki."

"W-what are you doing?"

"Uh, saying 'stay safe'? You'll never know what might happen, so I'm wishing you a safe trip to class."

"It's a few minutes walk from here!"

"Yeah, but if something bad happens and you're not prepared then…" Ichika paused for a moment, pressing play with his prepared P.A.D. " ** _You'll never see it coming~_** "

'And pause! I love playing this song at the right moment!' Ichika loved using **'Last** **Surprise'** for this kind of thing.

Despite Houki's rather traditional upbringing, she still knew enough English to understand that.

"...Did you just steer the conversation that way to use that song verse?"

"Yes."

"You're silly." Houki whispered to herself with a small smile before it was replaced with her usual frown as she walked off.

"Whoa… Orimu, do you know Shinonononon from somewhere?" Honne who sat to his right while her quiet blue-haired friend was on his left, asked him about Houki.

"Shinonononon? Oh, yeah, Houki and I go way back… we knew each other from when were kids until the government kept moving her around." Ichika replied, not giving away too much outside of common knowledge, admittedly he found the nickname a little too familiar with some anime he watched about Virtual Reality and all…

"Ooh, so she got the 'safe and secure' treatment huh?" Honne continued.

"Yes, thankfully, it wasn't the American brand of 'safe and secure'. Otherwise I would never see her again." Ichika, who got her reference, played along with their 'in the know' jokes.

The other two of Honne's friends that sat opposite Ichika looked confused and asked what that meant.

"Basically, whenever you watch those American movies where government officials tell people that they'll bring them to a 'safe and secure' location… usually they mean, we're abducting you and we're trying not to make you panic." Ichika summarised his impression of it.

"Yeah, it's about there." Honne agreed.

"You two watch American spy movies?" One of the girls asked.

Honne and Ichika looked at each other, before shrugging.

"A little." "I just looked up TvTropes." Honne and Ichika answered respectively.

Eventually the topic shifted to food.

"Wow! Orimu, you're eating a lot of meat."

"I need a lot of protein to maintain my muscle mass."

"You don't look that bulky- AH! It's like poking a metal wall!" Honne exclaimed as she began poking Ichika's arm. Ichika had already picked a non-physical repelling Persona just as she was about to poke him, but he was surprised that his muscles were that hard as well.

'Hmm, come to think of it… it's been a long time since I've temporarily discarded the power of my Persona's before doing training. I wonder how strong I really am without any Persona support at all?'

At some point, hundreds of girls tried to introduce themselves to him, but he managed them by greeting them all by name, while saying that he took the time to memorise the names and faces of all his schoolmates before he entered the school.

They went into full 'Amazing!' 'Wow!' 'Is there anything Ichika can't do!' mode… which thankfully, translated to them getting out of Ichika's face.

"Nohotoke-san?"

"Nohotoke-chan is fine~"

"Okay… are you sure you should be eating so little?"

"We eat enough snacks!"

"Please eat healthily!"

Ichika tsukkomi'ed.

"... Ah, Orimura-san?" The shy girl with blue hair and dark red eyes tugged on his sleeve, grabbing his attention.

"Yes, Sarashiki-san?"

"Huh? You know my name?"

"I just did mentioned I memorised everyone's names and faces. Why would I leave yours out?"

"O-oh…"

"How can I help? You were about to ask me something right?"

"Ah, yes. I, I heard a rumour that you were offered the Japanese Cadet Representative seat." Kanzashi's statement brought up a faint memory in Ichika's mind where he all but said 'Fuck that!' to the government because the thought of replacing someone that actually worked for the position was abhorrent to his values.

"Yeah, I told them to 'fuck off'. Some girl out there actually worked hard for the position you know, and those jackasses would treat young girls as 'assets' when it comes to piloting IS's? That's just detestable. I was sorely tempted to crush their skulls there and then. But then again, that would cause trouble for my big sister." Ichika casually mentioned how he felt about the situation.

"Whoa! Hardcore!" "Yeah, fuck the geezers!" The other two girls in front of him agreed with him.

"Nice one Orimu~! If you agreed I wouldn't know what to do with you." Honne cheerfully stated, though she seemed to be invested in it personally.

'Implying you can do something about it.' Ichika thought to himself that no one could truly force him to a different viewpoint without new and reasonable information that would explain why his stance was wrong.

"Did they uh… say who the Cadet Representative was?" Kanzashi asked nervously.

"Huh, nah. It's as if they chickened out later or something. Well, whoever it is will be getting some super prototype… I think they even took my sister's Yukihira from her Kurezakura to try something with it, ah well… that's the power of the establishment I suppose. You can't do anything about that kind of thing without tearing it out from the roots." Ichika discreetly dropped of his personal views like a joking comment.

The two girls sitting opposite him weren't smart enough to think much of it, unlike the two sitting next to him who thought that was a curious thing to say.

They ate breakfast and walked to class together after that.

* * *

Classes were pretty typical and boring to Ichika as he already gained rather high level IS information from various sources. Instead, he worked on some of his own work discreetly, mentally translating his planned messages plus working on the optimum infiltration route for his global activities.

At some point during Chifuyu's classes, they started whispering something about Tabane and Houki's relation to her.

"Erm, sensei. Is Shinononon-san, a relative of Professor Shinonono...?"

A girl trembled as she asked Chifuyu-nee…

'Shinonono Tabane, the genius who designed the IS all by herself. She was Chifuyu-nee's classmate, and Houki's elder sister… a close family friend, I believe that one of her classmates became an engineer that was working on the Byakushiki as well.' Ichika briefly wondered about that, thinking he could get more information about Tabane through that engineer since Chifuyu-nee was usually tight-lipped on things.

"That's right, Shinonono's that person's little sister."

'Chifuyu-nee, are you sure you should be putting the spotlight on Houki like that?' Ichika mentally quirked an eyebrow, deciding not to actually do so just in case his sister gives him some scolding over 'sass'.

Expecting the class to heckle Houki over that, and understanding that Houki probably wouldn't be thankful to her older sister at all for the kind of life she lived after IS was introduced, Ichika sent a death glare and his killing intent at the classroom, deliberately not targeting his two sensei's, Houki and Honne.

...It was only later he realized that he did it without using his Persona active, leading him to seriously consider testing his limits later.

* * *

He had his chance when they were doing outdoor IS practice in the barrier shielded Arena.

The girls were in these dark blue tights, and Ichika only had dark blue tights to wear.

Such a thing didn't cover his upper body (they didn't managed to get something that didn't break due to his muscle composition), exposing his bullshit 'perfect' sculpted body to his classmates.

Ignoring the crazed gazes of the girls (Honne was taking pictures) and extremely embarrassed expressions of some of the other girls (Houki was like a frozen statue with a red face, Cecilia was just keeping quiet with a similarly flushed face and snuck quite a lot of glances while pretending to look away), Ichika continued to test his body.

For the first time in forever, he cast aside his Persona's to the back of his mind.

He did not have one active at the forefront of his mind.

Now, it was just him and only him.

No comforting presence of the facade's he would use, no supernatural power empowering him, it was just his physical body tempered through training.

Class hadn't started yet, but everyone came to the field early, so Ichika used this chance to exercise'.

He went through multiple martial arts techniques using his full strength and speeds.

'What the fuck, this is inhuman!' Ichika wondered as he realised he was almost breaking the sound barrier as time went on.

'This… no, I can measure how much power I'm actually using… I have been using only a fraction of my physical strength as my Persona's had been bolstering my strength all this time.'

'This strength, it was surely that of a Master's in History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi.' Ichika thought as he measured his speeds that had surpassed the speed of sound without damaging his body.

Launching a punch at an empty area, he noted that the force of the punch was equal to that of his mid-tier Persona's skills that could demolish a large building.

It was thanks to the fact that his body, ever since gaining his Persona, had been affected by the cognitive world, breaking some of the limits that the cognition of the masses had placed on each other.

This effect was much like how Coffee could recover Ichika's mental strength at drastic levels, good coffee could recover his spiritual power because people believed that coffee 'refreshes' the mind, and because Ichika believed it to an extent, it allowed him to use coffee like a videogame healing item.

Such was the case with his physical strength, having changed all his muscles to pink muscles which went beyond the logic of the world, his belief and the fact that his body wasn't 'normal' broke the limits of his body, giving him one that wouldn't be out of place from a certain Martial Arts manga.

Of course, he was going so fast that the students were only seeing what they 'believed' they could see thanks to Ichika's passive cognitive world link affecting how others perceived him to a minor extent.

To the students, they saw an incredibly and almost inhumanly fast, powerful, multi-martial arts training routine. Beyond what they ever seen, but they still believed that it wasn't something supernatural.

'This is… haha, so this is what it's like. I wonder, was this what Lavenza meant by 'infinite power'?'

Ichika had another theory, that Lavenza's words weren't just for show, that his bond with Dan allowed him to surpass the 'grasp of fate' and with that, the limits of reality.

'The only thing I can do right now is try my best, to test my limits, and also, to get answers from Igor and Lavenza.'

Class started as Chifuyu and Maya came by to give them some drills performed with their body and in an IS, which Ichika dealt with no issues whatsoever.

After school, Ichika holed himself up in the workshop, beginning the first stages of his plan.

 **Arcana List**

 **Fool - Orimura Ichika (Nicodemus), Not yet attained.**

 **Magician- Gotanda Dan (Kokuten Hachiman), Rank 10**

 **Chariot - Gotanda Ran (Kaihime), Rank 8**

 **Strength - Lavenza, Rank 7**

 **Tower- Kuromochi Hiro, Rank 1**

 **Fortune - Shinonono Houki, Rank 5**

 **Empress- Orimura Chifuyu, Rank 5**


	9. Matters of the Heart

**Matters of the Heart**

 **April 2nd 20XX, 5:37 pm (Tuesday)**

"Here we go, a simple blade."

'Pause Camera program activated!' Ichika pressed the button on his P.A.D. just after he moved behind his IS to a certain point where the camera could barely see his body.

That way, it will look as if he was busy installing the blade to his IS while in reality, he was doing something entirely different.

Ichika went ahead to the Fabricator that he discreetly modified and hacked so that the records of the things he produced could be modified with some random designs of his, which he would send to the government so that if they tried to steal his designs, they would only get fake ones that would waste their time.

Hacking the camera feeds would allow him to make whatever he wanted so long as he kept the composition of the material stockpile consistent among other factors.

He plugged in the designs for certain components he needed to re-haul the Shirokishi.

It didn't take long for the components to be made, he spent an hour or two working on his special equipment that he wasn't likely to use.

Specifically, he swapped out the simple blade for a High-Frequency Blade.

He gained the inspiration from **Metal Gear Revengeance** , where a cyborg ninja had this fucking awesome katana that cuts through everything like paper.

Whilst he did make less efficient versions of High Frequency blades before, they never worked that well in the Metaverse for him to consider it worth using due to the fact that normal weapons worked equally as well thanks to how the cognitive world functioned.

But this is reality, and so he decided to take his work to the next level.

Ichika went for broke and picked his superlative katana that he forged himself using Dan's grandfather's family forge. While Dan's parents own an eaterie, their parents were blacksmiths by trade back then.

Using some materials from enemies that were immune to physical and fire damage from the Metaverse, he brought them over in order to craft a Katana, while it didn't carry over all it's properties, it was more than enough to make the best Katana that Japan could ever wish for.

And now, he converted it to a high frequency blade. The blade would be reinforced by a powerful alternating current and resonate at extremely high vibration frequencies. This oscillation weakens the molecular bonds of anything it cut, thereby increasing its cutting ability.

Next, he ensured that the Harmonic Balance was in place so that the vibrations wouldn't transfer to his hand, but be diverted for another purpose of his.

He quickly installed it into his IS, got Shirokishi into its ring form (why is it's portable form a silver ring on his left hand he'll never know) and went to the Cafeteria for dinner.

As per usual, he was swamped by a crowd. Thankfully Houki, Honne, Kanzashi came to occupy the seats next to him. At least they weren't the crazy talkative type that would ask him the most intrusive and inane questions that come to mind.

"Ichika, is everything alright with your IS?" Houki asked with some concern despite her serious typical frown.

"Yeah, everything's cool. I just finished installing a blade, although, I doubt I'll need it." He replied while stuffing himself with lots of meat.

"Oh! Does that mean you have a secret weapon Orimu?" Honne started using her overly long sleeves to slap against his uniform.

"It wouldn't be a secret if I told you now, wouldn't it Nohotoke-chan?" He replied back with a question, chuckling at her mock pout.

"It can't be that simple… I mean, core compatibility has to be considered. IS Cores are temperamental when it comes to installing frames and equipments." Kanzashi questioned, while advising him about the few measures used to measure how compatible equipment are with the drives and cores.

"There doesn't seem to be any problems now. Although, I am sticking to what the core is used to, to an extent." Ichika explained, avoiding specific details.

"So the core has been used in experiments before that?" Kanzashi deduced, speaking in her usual concise tone.

Personally, Ichika thought she looked really fragile and had mistaken her for a junior high school student, but decided that she was probably quite capable in engineering or long range shooting from a glance.

"A few…" Ichika answered, a little unsure of how many times it's been tested and also on what exactly Kanzashi was getting at.

'It's interesting how she's curious about the core. I know that it's Core No.001, but normal people don't. No one would be interested on what IS core it was unless… they already knew about how special that core was.' Ichika figured that since the Sarashiki family was quite important, they definitely had government connections that he should investigate into.

"Kan-chan, I don't think you should be fishing for too much from Orimu!"

"Ah! I didn't notice Honne. I-I'm sorry, Orimura-kun."

"Why are you apologising? Eh, no worries." Just as Ichika said those words, his alarm set for his P.A.D. had rang, playing the video game song that he had assigned for his alert.

 _ **"Violence breeds violence, but in the end it has to be this way-"**_

"Oh? Time already?" Ichika remarked in a professional manner.

"Huh?" "You're busy?" "What?" Houki, Honne and Kanzashi looked quite a bit curious.

"It's time to head back to the workshop, got some stuff on the Fabricator assembly line I got to check up on. Oh, right! Gotta get the ingredients from the kitchen too, thank goodness they have allotted some for student personal use." Ichika hurriedly said goodbye and went back to work in his usual time efficient manner.

Now that it wasn't Day 1 in IS Academy, he had immediately gotten to planning his time super efficiently once again.

* * *

 **Back at the workshop,** he brought out the Shirokishi and got inside it while using a voice command to activate the camera hacks on his P.A.D.

"Yo, Shirokishi. How's the new blade feel?" Normally, one would have to be schizophrenic to talk to an inanimate object, but an IS wasn't a mere inanimate object.

After all, it's core was essentially an A.I. plus power source 2-in-1 combo, so in a way, he was definitely talking to it.

Ichika took the simple blade he made earlier from under the workshop table, thankfully, the Shirokishi was very much smaller than other IS's, being very similar to a human… well, to be more exact it's only slightly larger than himself and a bit of a tight fit thanks to his muscles.

…

"Still saying nothing. Hey, wanna hear a story? I visited this Casino once and this shadowy figure, *cough* Shadow *cough* actually talked to me and sold me some stuff. Pretty cool if I say so myself, I'm used to them not saying much outside of the stock conversational exchange but… I've gotten used to not always getting a reply, even if I know they can hear me."

…

"What I'm saying is that you and me? We have quite a bit of a history. I mean, Tabane-nee and Chifuyu-nee were… friends I guess, and I know that the only person that could have hacked all those missiles and all is a certain Shinonono older sibling. And the only person she could trust to stop that attack would be a person as strong as my sister."

…

"I heard you were shot down at some point, but you came back new and improved. First or Second Shift, I take it? You healed Chifuyu-nee that way, didn't you? … Thank you, for saving her."

Ichika placed held the simple blade above him horizontally with his left hand while materializing his new **High Frequency Blade** in his right hand.

"You've changed, given up some parts of yourself to come back anew. It's like a cycle… and I think that with me here, we're going to be doing a lot of that."

Ichika lightly swung the HF-Blade down on the simple blade, it was split apart like butter to a hot knife.

"Change, can be bad or good. But, trust me on this. I may change lots of your parts a lot, you might think it's crazy, but hey, it's going to be really awesome. What do you say, Partner?"

[...Query?]

A small sentence appeared in the middle of his visor's screen, although the IS gives 360 degrees vision, to Ichika the text looks as if it would be right in front of him.

"Yes?"

[More Speed?]

"Oh, trust me on this. I have a need for speed."

 _ **"I am thou, Thou art I…**_

 _ **Thou hast acquired a new vow.**_

 _ **It shall become the wings of revolution**_

 _ **That breaketh the gears of fate.**_

 _ **With the birth of the Death Persona,**_

 _ **I have attained the wings of blessing**_

 _ **that shall lead to freedom and new power."**_

"Heh...Everyone is going to crucify me for this but I don't give a damn… muahahaha!"

[Query? Wut r u doing?]

Ohohoho! Internet Meme language?

"I'm gloating, it's therapeutic. Try that sometime later."

[Query? This unit desires to 'Rekt' newer models. Newer Cores are condescending on the I.S. Core Network.]

'What the hell? The Cores are talking to each other?'

"Well, let's keep each other secrets and I promise you, you'll 'rekt' every single I.S. out there like the scrubs they are."

[It should be 'Brutal. Savage. Rekt.' Brats should not get so cocky.]

'I should be concerned with the fact that Shirokishi is talking to me so casually, but then again, I have Persona's that take the form of ancient and mythical beings, plus my Social Link aspect of the Wild Card does crazy things.'

At midnight, Lavenza had informed him that she would only tell him the answers to his questions if he would defeat her in combat.

Bugger.

On another downside, for some reason, IS's cannot recharge their energy within the Metaverse.

It's possible that the cognitive world actually downgrades real I.S.'s due to lots of people not knowing how the Cores actually work.

Still, Ichika got in some decent training with Shirokishi within the cognitive world as Dan and Ran allowed him to handle the mob shadows while going through their marathon of infiltration's.

* * *

 **April 3rd 20XX (Wednesday)**

"Ta-da! Hahaha! Oh, this academy thought they could stop me from cooking huh?! Not on my watch!"

"I'm starting to believe that you think everything is out to get you, Ichika." Houki muttered while keeping her eyes glued to the elaborate and exotic bento boxes opened in front of her.

"I-is it really alright for us to have this?" Kanzashi asked meekly, trying to not be bothered by Houki's stronger than usual frown of disappointment at Ichika making food for everyone, and not just herself.

Still, Houki reasoned that this was so like Ichika to have included his new 'friends'.

"Om Nom Nom! Seconds please!" Honne held up her empty box to Ichika, hoping for more.

"Oh? I believed you've said that you would make up the difference in snacks yesterday?" Ichika smiled pleasantly while hiding the underlying smugness within him.

"Wah! Orimu! Don't do this to me!"

"Muahahahaha! There it is, suffer in agony from your own shortsightedness!"

"Noooo!"

"Oh, here's your bento for your lunch later. Just in case you won't be able to make it to the cafeteria."

"You're the best Orimu!"

 _ **"I am thou, Thou art I…**_

 _ **Thou hast acquired a new vow.**_

 _ **It shall become the wings of revolution**_

 _ **That breaketh the gears of fate.**_

 _ **With the birth of the Alchemy Persona,**_

 _ **I have attained the wings of blessing**_

 _ **that shall lead to freedom and new power."**_

'Alchemy? The ability to solve and combine, to turn something plain into something precious. One of the ways that Arcana can represent… I believe.'

"Thanks. Although, there's always someone better, or at least, that's what I believe." Ichika replied before turning to answer Kanzashi. "It's my pleasure to be able to share the finer things in life with others, so don't worry about it Kanzashi-san." Ichika used her first name and the '-san' suffix since he had the feeling she wouldn't appreciate using her last name as much.

An odd feeling, but one he trusted nonetheless.

"Oh! Then you better call me Honne-chan in return you know. Or I'll feel really left out Orimura-kun." Honne urged him to do so, which he agreed without much hesitation, much to Houki's chagrin.

Not that Houki would do much while she was currently enjoying the food. Eating is an important ceremony that must be conducted properly, after all!

Classes went by as usual.

There was some talk about some high-profile politicians in the US, Russia and China admitting to some rather heinous stuff… curiously, they all said they got a calling card from these 'Phantom Thieves of Hearts' the day before in the form of a metal card with a logo on it.

Each calling card was personalized in the official language of the country, and had specifics on their twisted desires and crimes.

The girls in the academy were already talking about it, saying that there was no way this was a coincidence for a 'change of heart' to happen.

Ichika looked up the site that Dan helped him set up in a few countries for a **'Phan-site'** for the **Phantom Thieves of Hearts** , the pun was so punny and was killing Ichika on the inside, but figured it would be good to increase the chance of going viral.

The Poll was at 10% right now, not too bad.

* * *

Later that day, their now new usual group of four students, 3 of them from Class 1-1, and one of them from Class 1-4 (Kanzashi) ate the lunch Ichika prepared for them after asking the Cafeteria staff to heat it up for them.

"Mmmm! No, why is this so good? This can't possibly be real! Once was happenstance, Twice is coincidence, there's no way that this can be reality!" Houki seems to be suffering a mental breakdown from the fact that Ichika would probably be a better house husband/wife than she could ever be.

'Eh? Is Houki crying? It's probably tears of joy.'

"It smells so good! It tastes so good! Orimu is like a max stat protagonist from an RPG game, GM please nerf!" Honne exclaimed right as she finished her lunch at Guinness World Record level time.

"If I get nerfed you won't be able to eat such tasty food." Ichika reminded her, making a small smug grin.

"...You're really too good Orimura-kun… maybe I'm still dreaming, did I watch too much anime last night?" Kanzashi was swaying about, her curls were going all over the place.

"I suggest getting a pair of glasses that blocks blue light if you're watching anime at night. The less you harm your sleep cycle, the better." Ichika advised her with great concern.

"I'll look into that. T-thank you…"

"Oh, I just remembered to ask. Kanzashi-san? Who's your class representative?"

Kanzashi stayed silent before for a minute before finally answering.

"Well… there's a duel for the position. The Swiss Cadet Representative against the Japan's Cadet Representative." She told him, she seemed a bit uneasy.

"Cool. I guess it will be an even match then?"

"N-not really. Japan's Cadet Representative's Personal IS is still being worked on and I- *cough*, I mean, our country's representative is better at long ranged combat while her Personal IS is specialized in short ranged combat." Kanzashi explained to him, correcting herself at a certain point.

"... That seems hardly fair. Bloody officials and their commitments to their pet projects, I bet they couldn't be bothered to dismantle the Byakushiki and decided to just put another core inside."

"How did you know about the Byakushiki!?"

"Hmm? They offered it to me, I declined."

"But why? Was it for politics?"

"I just didn't think it was right that the IS was meant for someone else but would be altered for me instead. I rather walk my own journey, and I happened across a rather obsolete model that I wanted more than their super prototype nonsense. So, yeah, I'm basically remaking my own IS at this point."

"...By yourself?"

"If I can, then why not? If I can't, then I'll ask for help."

Honne and Houki, seeing as the two were wrapped in their own conversation, worked to keep curious busybody bystanders from listening in with their own methods.

"...You're really amazing… you have an amazing older sister but, I think you're surpassing even her in all aspects." Kanzashi said in a mixture of awe and resignation with a forlorn expression on her face.

"Whether that's true or not remains to be seen. But even so, I don't compare myself with my older sister. She has things only she can do, and I have things only I can do."

'Like, Persona adventures, building my own advanced weaponry, mastering all sorts of martial arts, cooking, and my favourite… Dancing!'

"Is that so…"

"Hmm, Kanzashi-san? Can you get me a meeting with Japan's Cadet Representative?"

"Eh? Why?"

"I'm a Martial Artist, and I can say that I'm very proficient at teaching others useful combat abilities. If I can help someone even the scales, why wouldn't I?"

"Orimura-kun… I'll say it bluntly then, I'm Japan's Cadet Representative."

"Ok. I'll message you the place where we'll be training right after school then."

Right after Kanzashi gathered the resolve to reveal her status to him, Ichika was utterly accepting of it as if it wasn't a big deal at all.

"... I'm uh, I'm not sure if I can do very well physically…" Kanzashi tried to back away, remembering the crazy drills he did yesterday that her best friend (and personal maid) Honne showed her yesterday through pictures and videos.

"If you're not sure, just try it out. I believe in you, you'll do fine. Trust me." Ichika reassured her with a confident smile and soothing voice.

Kanzashi found herself staring at his outstretched hand and brilliant smile, before reaching out and taking it after a bit of hesitation.

 _ **"I am thou, Thou art I…**_

 _ **Thou hast acquired a new vow.**_

 _ **It shall become the wings of revolution**_

 _ **That breaketh the gears of fate.**_

 _ **With the birth of the Priestess Persona,**_

 _ **I have attained the wings of blessing**_

 _ **that shall lead to freedom and new power."**_

Houki looked on at Ichika offering Kanzashi a helping hand, and reminisced on the past while stomping out her jealousy as hard as she could.

'Ah, Ichika… you are just as kind as ever. Even now, I still… love you.'

* * *

 **April 4th 20XX, (Thursday)**

Ichika settled into a bit of a routine, making food for everyone, chatting with Shirokishi, training Kanzashi in some martial arts, spending some time catching up with Houki in their room, bantering with Honne, working on things in his workshop and sweeping the surveillance devices from places he frequents.

And at night? That was when he, Dan and Ran would work overtime in the Metaverse to move their plan forward.

Well, that night was a bit unusual when Ran snuck back into the Metaverse after Dan left to catch up with Ichika a little.

"Ichika!"

"Ran? What's wrong?"

"It's um… Nothing's wrong but I was wondering if I could have a little of your time…"

"Is that all? You don't have to ask me for my time, you're one of my bestest friends in the whole wide world."

"... Yeah, about that… Ichika? Oh, I can, um, call you that right?"

"Of course."

"I, well my brother said it first but, I want you to know that you can always count on me too! I won't be left behind or be a burden to the both of you."

"I know. And Ran? You've never been a burden nor will we ever leave you behind-"

"But the both of you are always protecting me!"

"Only because you've been protecting us just as well! I can't remember the times you pushed me out of the way of a dangerous attack! I owe you a lot Ran."

"Well, the same goes for you too…"

Ran trailed off before resolving herself to ask the question after checking with Ichika some things.

"Ichika, I want to stand beside you all the way. No matter what path you take."

"Ran… that means a lot to me."

And it did, even if Dan just told him that some time ago, hearing those heartfelt words and the resolution in them strengthened Ichika as he knew that his journey would be a tough one and that he couldn't do it alone.

Ichika continued on. "I… I can't do this alone. Dan doesn't want me to do it alone even if he knows I don't want you or him hurt if possible. You… you probably feel the same way, don't you?" Ichika had a knowing but sad smile plastered on his face.

Ran removed her mask without summoning her Persona, and walked up to Ichika, leaning her body on his chest.

"Yeah… I know that by choosing to follow you, we'll be in danger, but even so… you'll be in all sorts of danger too. If any of us could, we'll carry each other's burdens alone. But in the end, if everyone feels that way, we may well cover for each other, huh?"

"I guess that's the only fair solution, heheh…"

Ichika wasn't sure what to do about this situation. On one hand, a pretty curvy redhead was leaning on his chest. On the other hand, this was his best friend's sister!

"..."

"... Ran? Um… I… I'm not sure what's going on."

"... Of course you don't. You're my silly combat crazy Ichika who can do everything but understand girls!" Ran laughed while clutching his black cloak, pulling away slightly.

When Ichika looked down, he could certainly see quite a bit of her cleavage down her loose kimono. He tried his best not to look, and he certainly made it an obvious effort.

"I-I'm not that combat crazy, am I?" Ichika asked while removing his own mask, thinking that reciprocating the gesture is always a good rule to follow.

"You're a little bit violent, but I like that side of you too… it makes you look, domineering, decisive and really manly."

It has been a long time since Ichika blushed, mostly because 'manly' wasn't usually a compliment in this day and age, but he certainly felt that it should be one and considered it to be one in his case.

To him, it meant quite a lot when it came to how she saw him.

"Thank you, Ran."

"...Ichika, I think I… No, I know I love you."

' has crashed. Please reboot.' Ichika mentally tried to process those words, wondering if she was talking about a particular aspect of himself but in the end, there was nothing he could find that denoted that it could have meant anything else.

He didn't know how to react. He knew his sister loved him, he knew that Dan loved him as a brother, he knew that Houki had probably been infatuated with his younger self… but he never considered that the girl he cared for like she was his own younger sister would feel this way for him.

'Younger sister… hah… that's absurd. I wouldn't know how to love a younger sister anyways, because I never had one. In the end… didn't I care for her as a friend, just like Dan? But if that's the case, is she just a friend or…'

"Ichika? How do you see me? Please… tell me. Am I just my brother's sister to you or..."

In his head, several options flashed through his mind. If he said 'like a younger sister', or 'Dan's sister', then that'll be a lie. She was not just someone else's sister to him nor like a sister to him.

She was the type of girl that would fight to protect them, he still recalled the way she awakened her Persona even as he was knitting his other half of his body together… he remembered the way she steadfastly supported him in school and in combat, even pushing him away from danger many times.

To be honest, in a real life combat situation, there was no other girl right now that he could trust with his back… and not just that, she was also someone he could trust to stand on her own without her brother and himself when push comes to shove.

Plus, he'll be lying if puberty didn't play a part in his answer considering several biological responses he had to both her casual and formal dress at home that showed of her curves and feminine side respectively.

Also, scarlet red hair.

But… he remembered Houki who waited for him all this while, which he believed was unhealthy, but couldn't be helped due to being at an impressionable age.

What could he say?

"Don't even think that you are 'just' Dan's sister. You are equally as important as him, if not more so at times. You're a beautiful young growing woman and don't let anyone else think otherwise."

"I see… will you let this beautiful woman stand by your side then? I want to try, to at least try to heal that soothe that desperation in your heart."

"W-what? Desperation?"

"You should know it by now. Even if you knew it was unreasonable guilt, you hated the feeling of being weak so much that you sympathize with the oppressed and vulnerable out there… why else, are you trying so desperately to change the world?"

Ran's words cut right into his heart.

'She's right. And I knew that all along. Even if it was unreasonable to blame myself for being kidnapped, I could never forget nor forgive the fact that an evil act like that was committed on a child… on me. Never Again. I told myself, Never Again. I would never again let this happen when it was in my power to do so. So I trained hard, studied hard, helped as many people as I could while thinking of the long term… because never again will I let someone feel as as helpless, guilty, vulnerable, weak, in despair as I was.'

"...You're right. But Ran… you know I'm messed up, so why?"

"It's because no matter how messed up you are, deep down there your reasons are pure, admirable and considerate to others. Even if you resort to cruel means, you always have lines you know that you won't cross even if you don't know all of them yet. To me, you're amazing. How could I not fall in love, then simply be in love with you?" The way she asked him rhetorically and with the most loving smile he had ever seen on her face made his heart almost melt.

'Those words… that meant that she 'fell' in love at some point but the crush had faded, giving way to mere 'love' as an act or state of being… ah, this certainly isn't some childish fleeting thing. She loves me for who I am.'

"Ah… ha… how could I not see it all this time? With how much I care about you, how could I not have loved you all this time as well?" Ichika leaned forward and kissed her then.

Unfortunately, his phone's alarm rang loudly, alerting them to the fact that they had a schedule to keep.

"Ran! I, forget this we can keep on-"

"No! This, you have to get back to the IS Academy now. This can wait, you need to be there. I need you to be there. This is your journey, we'll have plenty of time…"

"But…"

"Idiot! If you don't go now I'll tell Onii that you forced a kiss on me!"

"Bwah! What?!"

"Just kidding. But seriously, go!"

* * *

 **April 5th 20XX, (Friday)**

As per usual, the routine continued, Ichika tried not to let thoughts of the early morning distract him but…

It was damn hard to forget the feeling of her lips on his.

It was even harder when he felt as if he betrayed Houki by not even giving her a chance back there.

 _ **"Ichika. If I may bring up a suggestion?"**_

'Nicodemus? Oh thank Jehovah you've got a suggestion! Gimme!'

Nicodemus sighed in his head. The robed man within his mind looked reluctant to provide this suggestion.

 _ **"The Lord would disapproved of this but due to the nature of your… magnetic charisma and this power of yours… along with your loving heart. I do believe that so long as you do not let your spouse's import their beliefs into your heart to lead you astray… you should consider Solomon's reign."**_

'Huh? Wait, are you seriously suggestion the multiple wives and concubines thing?'

Ichika's question was met with silence as Nicodemus retreated somewhere to pray for forgiveness within his mind.

 **Arcana List**

 **Fool - Orimura Ichika (Nicodemus), Not yet attained.**

 **Magician- Gotanda Dan (Kokuten Hachiman), Rank 10, Maxed**

 **Chariot - Gotanda Ran (Kaihime), Rank 9**

 **Strength - Lavenza, Rank 7**

 **Tower- Kuromochi Hiro, Rank 1**

 **Fortune - Shinonono Houki, Rank 5**

 **Empress- Orimura Chifuyu, Rank 5**

 **Death - Shiroshiki, Rank 1**

 **Priestess - Sarashiki Kanzashi, Rank 2**

 **Alchemy - Nohotoke Honne, Rank 2  
**


	10. Matters of the Heart 2

**AN: Answering some questions...**

 **The Devil Arcana is to Ichika, as Adachi was to Yu Narukami, and Goro as to Akira Kurusu... The Metal Gear Revengeance song 'It has to be this way' is the best way I can sum it up.**

 **And yes, the character is Canon to IS.**

 **I already wrote some parts of the battle, but I needed to refine it a lot. Honne's older sister in Canon liked Dan, so that part will definitely be developed at some point.**

 **Also, to the readers, what are your preferences for best girls in IS Canon, out of curiosity. **

**I mean Charlotte and Laura will always be somewhere at the top for me, so with a mix of body type and personality I would place Maya Chifuyu Tatenashi = Cecilia Kanzashi Houki = Lingyin or something like that... need to re-watch some bits I guess.**

 **Honne is just outside the scale because side characters are so best.**

 **Matters of the Heart 2**

 **April 5th, 20XX**

Still troubled by the long term implications on his decision a few hours ago, Ichika was walking along with Houki and Honne to Class 1-4 to go see Kanzashi before they walked together towards the Cafeteria.

Kanzashi seemed to have the same idea as she walked out of her classroom just as they were coming by, although, she didn't look particularly happy as some First Years started gossiping, about her specifically.

"That girl really can't do anything by herself, huh?"

"Compared to her sister she has a big firm building her personal IS… of course she can't compare!"

"Yeah, Tatenashi-sempai built her IS by herself!"

"I bet her current position is because of her family's ties with the government, just look at her!"

"Good thing we have another Cadet Representative in our class or we'll be done for in inter-class competitions. Now we just need to wait for Cynthia to win."

… It's no wonder Kanzashi looked so uncomfortable when her own classmates were barely supportive at all.

Whoever this Cynthia is, she must have a great deal of charisma or some advantage of some kind in order to turn everyone against Kanzashi, Ichika thought.

He was about to give them a good dose of killing intent when Kanzashi tugged his left arm sleeve as she walked by.

"Let's just go."

Deciding to honor her desire, Ichika went along with Kanzashi.

Honne, for the first time Ichika saw her, looked as if she wanted to snarl at those gossiping bitches, but held back from doing so.

Strangely enough for Ichika, Houki whispered something into Kanzashi's ear… his lip reading was good enough to deduce those words even though he only gave a cursory glance while pretending to look elsewhere.

"I know how it feels like", was what Houki whispered sympathetically to Kanzashi's plight.

The glasses wearing girl nodded in reply, muttering something about her breath about genius Onee-chan's.

'Huh… and I thought Houki would never find a friend.' Ichika berated himself for such a thought, at least, until he remembered Houki's constantly frowning face was never exactly conducive to friendship matters.

Honne tapped his other arm with her overly long sleeves, he kept on walking while he leaned down to hear her.

"I think I'm the only one without a troublesome older sister." She whispered to him.

Ichika grimaced a little before giving Honne some good advice.

"Don't even imply that. Chifuyu-nee has the best and worst timing when her name is mentioned, also, she's the best sister I could hope for." Ichika hurriedly said to Honne, who looked at him skeptically.

Until Chifuyu walked pass the corner, stopped, and glared at Honne before walking on.

"..."

"..."

Apparently they weren't as quiet as they would have liked as Kanzashi and Houki heard what they said.

Also…

"Orimu~ I had never been so scared in my life."

"I know Honne-chan. I know… all I could hear in my head was the Terminator theme."

The both of them had gotten a bit closer due to their near death experience.

* * *

"Maybe they're right, I can't do anything by myself."

"... To be fair, it's not as if you had the choice to things by yourself in the first place."

Ichika answered Kanzashi's self-depreciating comment as they were enjoying Ichika's homemade lunch as best as they could despite the dour mood.

Honne had went on to eat with her other friends this time around, apparently advertising his food… he had a bad feeling about that bit.

In any event, Ichika was referencing the fact that Kanzashi didn't exactly get the choice in the matter of being the Japan's Cadet Representative, being assigned a personal IS… although he wasn't quite sure what the matter was with the duel.

"Even so, I should have fought for it. I should have said 'No' or even do something! But here I am relying on some big company, my childhood friend, and um…" She didn't seem quite sure what to call Houki and Ichika, that, or she wasn't too comfortable in believing that she had a friend in them.

"The word is 'Friend', and I sure wouldn't be one if I won't stick with you the very end." Ichika finished her sentence disregarding her own hesitance about it.

"...You'll go that far for just a friend, huh?" Houki seemed to be pondering on his words.

"Hmm… it's times like this we've got to do some reconnaissance." Ichika commented, catching the two's attention. "No, it should have been the first thing to do, but then again the basics I helped you with should be useful enough… nah, that's silly… the Byakushiki basically lives and dies on its clutch of an ability. Give me ten minutes." Ichika stood up, checked his P.A.D. and walked up to where he believed the Swiss Cadet Representative was currently having lunch at.

Surprisingly for him, she turned out to be alone, staring at some of her classmates.

"Good afternoon, Orimura Ichika, pleasure to meet you." He introduced himself in a friendly cheerful manner.

The blonde spared him a glance before giving him a routine introduction.

"Cynthia Schaffhauser, a pleasure. Now, if you would be so kind as to not block my view."

Ichika stepped to the side and followed the gaze of her emerald green eyes, seeing that it was locked onto a one of her classmates.

… Hmm… this is a bit of a gamble, but considering that most girls these days and age are placed into girls only schools he wouldn't discount such a possibility.

"So, you think that girl would look good in your bed without her clothes on, don't you?" He insinuated, making the girl reel back defensively and waved her hands furiously in an embarrassed manner.

"Wh-what are you saying! Shh, keep it down!"

"Oh dear, you didn't deny it… so you are interested in her that way, huh?"

"G-guh!"

"Relax, I'm not aiming to do anything… although, she's a girl that likes cute things and is proud of her hair, Exhibit A, the cute key chain dangling right there and Exhibit B…"

Ichika promptly gave her some observations of his to assist Cynthia.

"Hm! Hm! Jotted down and… done. Orimura-kun, I believe that you can make a good private detective."

"Oh my, I appreciate the compliment, but that occupation is a bit too ironic for my tastes."

The Phantom Thief replied back conversationally before he got into what he wanted to ask about. He asked about what was her preferred language and swapped to Swiss French for the sake of privacy.

"Miss Schaffhauser, I don't wish to presume, but I have some concerns about your class's attitudes towards a certain acquaintance of mine."

"Oh dear! What could be the matter?"

Seeing her genuine concern, Ichika divulged what he knew about Kanzashi's situation from his point of view.

"The nerve! I was nominated for the position but the duel was suggested by an Seras-san, I believe. It was not my intention for any of this to happen. I thought this was simply how the IS Academy's gun-boat diplomacy rules worked. Class nominees must fight for the position, and that was that."

"Hmm, then perhaps one side overly favors you to the extent of applying undue pressure unto Kanzashi?"

"Perhaps that might be the case. Our class is made out of predominantly Europeans, so it's likely that this is a race based issue."

"*Sigh* I had a sinking suspicion it could be such a thing. They weren't particularly considerate with creating a fair class distribution, were they?"

Cynthia and Ichika lamented the situation, but both agreed that the duel was still happening, although at least in this case, both sides would have their misunderstandings cleared up.

He bid the girl goodbye, sensing with his skills and her body's cues that she wasn't lyign about the whole thing.

He walked back to Houki and Kanzashi, giving them a brief about the situation.

"Alright, spoke with your duel opponent. Turns out it's a cultural misunderstanding and systematic racism at play, blame everyone else, she's too occupied with personal matters to have been part of the nasty comments."

"... Thank you. But… it doesn't change the fact that what they said was true."

"Well then. You'll have to prove them wrong then, and you will. I have just the thing…"

He asked for permission to have Shirokishi have a chat with the Byakushiki, promising that he wouldn't peek at her workshop research.

"It's not like any of it is mine. Wait, did you say something about the Shirokishi?"

Right after Kanzashi pointed that out, Houki crushed a glass cup in remembrance of the day her life stopped being normal.

"Houki! Your hand! Hold on, I have some bandages and disinfectant here with me." Ichika administered Houki some first aid as Kanzashi walked around Ichika trying to find out where exactly does he put all these random tools in his uniform.

Anyways, they went to Kanzashi's workshop that was filled with quite a few women engineers which Ichika ignored before partially summoning Shirokishi's right hand to touch the Byakushiki.

"Hey, tell Byakushiki that it's blade is going to have an additional add-on that it should ignore and not reject."

 **[Note. The Byakushiki unit is being a whiny bitch.]** Shirokishi spoke through some Microsoft voice, shocking the rest of the staff there.

"Then tell the Byakushiki that if it doesn't want to lose in its first fight then it better damn well be cooperative or I swear that I will melt it's frame down, cook it in the worst British cauliflower stew I can make before remaking it's frame myself with a pink and green Hippie theme."

 **[Cooperation. The Byakushiki unit graciously accepts any add-on's so long as you recognize that it is unable to register additional weapons.]**

"That's fine. Only temporary equipment will be needed."

With all the expansion slots in the Byakushiki being used to increase the synchronization rate between the IS and the Yukihira weapon in order for it be used without a Second Shift, this menat that it could not store additional weapons.

However, this did not mean that the Byakushiki couldn't simply carry and use other weapons if it equipped it before entering a battle.

"Great. I'll come back and give some equipment after I make them. Anyways, back to training." Ichika says in a carefree manner while the staff, Houki and Kanzashi looked at him in absolute amazement and confusion.

* * *

Now that he had a plan of action, his mind had drifted now and again while he was training Kanzashi in the more efficient ways to use a blade with himself as the target practice.

Houki had joined in as well as Ichika thought it would be great for the both of them to practice situational awareness.

At this point, Ichika was absentmindedly weaving in and out, dodging Houki's well-trained strikes and Kanzashi's surprisingly agile attacks without much effort.

On the occasions where he couldn't dodge without causing damage to the dojo they were practicing in, he went ahead and blocked the wooden practice swords with a single finger.

For some reason, that infuriated Houki. Ichika had no clue why.

"Ichika! Are you even trying?!" Houki screamed as she sidelined Kanzashi by furiously attacking him with reckless abandon.

She could scarcely believe it! All these years of training and Ichika was this strong?! It was madness!

"Huh? Oh, I'm trying enough aren't I? You really should let Kanzashi-san have a change to come at me, although on second thought, this is good training to look for an opening Kanzashi-san! Keep it up!"

"Oh...okay…"

As Kanzashi focused in finding the time when Ichika was most vulnerable, Houki pushed on with her relentless Kendo assaults that gradually turned into strikes of rage.

Meanwhile… in Ichika's mind…

'Dan is so going to kill me. Dan's grandfather Gen is going to kill me for spoiling his favourite (and only) granddaughter even if I didn't do anything… probably. Ren, her mother, might kill me but who knows what's going on in her mind. Oh no, her father is going to drill into me, isn't he?'

Ichika was a bit caught up with his own worries.

"Why won't you die!" Houki seems to be getting extremely agitated.

"COGNITIVE SCIENCE, SON!" Ichika ended up replying that way, seeing the opportunity when he remembered Raiden saying that in Hideo Kojima's game.

Ichika quickly moved his left hand to his back and used a finger flick to deflect Kanzashi's sword strike while he was mildly distracted before going on to disarm Houki by catching her downward slash with two of his right hand's fingers.

"Nice one Kanzashi-san! You almost got me there. I think you have a keen eye for weak points! What's your secret?"

"Um… Sentai anime?"

"Yeah, makes sense. All those bad guys tend to have a specific weakness so it's great you have developed a 'Third Eye' for this."

Houki's ego was very much bruised from the relatively bad showing, until Ichika comforted her by helping her up and asked her about what had happened after telling Kanzashi that he'll be chatting with Houki privately at a corner.

"Um, Houki? Do you want to talk about it?"

"...There's nothing to talk about." She petulantly dismissed such a question.

Ichika didn't seem to give up. "Houki, I don't remember you ever fighting in such a rage-filled manner. Are you sure there's something you don't want to talk about?"

"... I may have a slight temper problem."

"Go on."

"Well, Kendo is all I knew. It was one of the good memories I had and… to this day I continued doing it to remember you."

"I see. Thank you Houki, although I have to say I'm a bit more than just swords these days. Haha…"

Houki smiled a little before she frowned once again, remembering what she wanted to admit.

"Yeah… I must have forgotten that your kindness is your strongest point. That's because… at soem point, I start using Kendo to vent my anger."

'Oh dear… stressed Houki is not a happy Houki.' Ichika thought dryly in his head.

"It was cathartic seeing my opponents on the ground writhing in pain after I defeated them, at least, until I realised I was simply engaging myself in senseless violence."

Ichika thought about how he wanted to respond and figured that Houki didn't like that part of herself.

"I see. Don't worry about it too much Houki, it happens to the best of us. I've been there too."

His words seemed to suprise Houki as her mouth was in an 'O' shape that denoted her shock.

Ichika chuckled lightly before continuing on. "Yeah, it's kind of fun winning and proving your superiority, although I think it's the feeling of just… 'letting it go' that is making it enjoyable for you. It's the same for me, when I can just fight and use all my strength, it feels like I'm not hiding anymore and I can show the world just how I feel."

"...Yes…" Houki found herself nodding along.

"Houki. You felt… trapped, didn't you?"

"... Yes, it's exactly that."

"I know that feeling very well Houki. Believe me... "

"Ichika…"

"It's hard, isn't it? To not let your anger get the better of you? I know, it was hard for me to find an outlet and believe me, I broke at some point and I went absolutely ham on certain opponents when they were acceptable targets."

"Really!?"

"Yeah, really. But Houki, even when I feel frustrated, trapped, angered… nowadays, I have found peace and purpose, and that has stopped me from violently acting out at inappropriate times."

Houki was feeling esctatic until his most recent words as she believed that Ichika seemed to be understanding all of her anger issues, true enough, a lot of it made sense but the last part confused her.

"Huh?"

"Houki, there are things that you have not made peace with. Unforgiveness in your heart, perhaps?"

"I'll never forgive her for aban-abandoning all of us for god knows what!?"

"And that's one of it. And quite frankly, until we understand Tabane-nee's reasons or come to an acceptance of it, I think progress on your anger issues will be slow."

"But… I'm trying! I can overcome this without-"

"Shh, Houki. You're getting mad again."

"... Haaa…."

"Still think it's not the bunny witch causing you endless frustrations?"

"... Okay fine. Tabane-neesan is probably a big reason."

"That's a good Houki. When you're ready to let it all out then I'll be with you to hear you out, okay?"

"Okay… w-wait, what did you just say?!"

"... Crap!"

"Idiot! Get back here! What did you mean good Houki! Don't treat me like a pet!"

It was a productive Friday afternoon, The End.

* * *

Actually, that wasn't the end as Ichika still hasn't figured out exactly how he wanted to react to his and Ran's new situation.

Thankfully or perhaps not, Dan was there for their infiltrations so it's not as if they had much time for some boyfriend girlfriend stuff.

At some point, Ichika decided to just roll with it first. Houki has her own issues to deal with before she's ready for a relationship that's not plagued with her own insecurities over her anger issues. Which means, learning more about Tabene-nee is a must!

And… that goes onto Ichika's long to-do list.

Like last time, nearing the time when Ichika had to go back to the IS Academy, he and Ran spent some private time together.

"Ran, I just realised… if anyone asks we need to give them a story, you know?"

"Hmm, well, we've known each other for years and that I confessed just before you went for your exams which was right before your IS debacle, after that, when you came back to get your stuff we simply confirmed things and we're in a long distance relationship then."

'Waow! Leave it to girls to come up with romantic cover-up stories!' Ichika thought to himself as he figured that his ideas would probably be stupid.

"Sounds legit. Thanks Ran for coming up with that!"

"Aww, it's just a small thing Ichika. Oh, here, I got this for you!"

She passed him two set of clothes.

"I-is this?"

"Yup! I had it made to order quite a while ago. I used the money I saved up to get it done by Hugo Boss."

"Ran… you are the most considerate girlfriend in the world!"

"I would have gotten it to you even without being your girlfriend you know? It was sitting in the house for a long while, I wanted it to be a graduation gift but… I never found the time."

"Not a problem! Thank you so much, oh, you know how I love my Hugo Boss suits! Thanks you always thinking about me, oh, I made this for you too when I could."

In return, Ichika gave her some homemade desserts he made in the Academy, along with some photo's he discreetly took so that she could have an insider view into the place.

It was a good day, in general. Now, he had a lot of work to do on the weekends as well…

Normally, Japanese school days only give Sunday as a rest day, but with all the international students in the IS Academy, they were pressured to give Saturday's off as well.

Which is great news for Ichika!

Somewhere out there, Kanzashi's lithe body is trembling in fear of more training.

Ichika mused on his way back that he should also look into fixing his own issues, or at least preparing himself mentally for the surprises that might pop up in the year. He didn't want to be hypocritical to Houki or to be found mentally unstable at the worst possible times.

He knew that whatever guilt he felt back then was irrational, but he couldn't shake it off and it was a key driver for him to build himself up to the man he was.

He would have found a psychiatrist to talk to, but he lived in Japan, and everyone knows that there are no psychiatrists in Japan. Hip hip hooray for the 'keeping everything to yourself' culture! Not!

Ichika made a mental note to make a fake identity and try looking for a psychiatrist, or see if Igor would have any insight into this.

The long-nosed man always was a very concerned individual, even if he was cryptic most of the time.

… Yes, perhaps he could go talk to Igor?

 **Arcana List**

 **Fool - Orimura Ichika (Nicodemus), Not yet attained.**

 **Magician- Gotanda Dan (Kokuten Hachiman), Rank 10, Maxed**

 **Chariot - Gotanda Ran (Kaihime), Rank 9**

 **Strength - Lavenza, Rank 7**

 **Tower- Kuromochi Hiro, Rank 1**

 **Fortune - Shinonono Houki, Rank 6**

 **Empress- Orimura Chifuyu, Rank 5**

 **Death - Shiroshiki, Rank 1**

 **Priestess - Sarashiki Kanzashi, Rank 3**

 **Alchemy - Nohotoke Honne, Rank 2**


	11. First Flight: Just You and Me

AN: This ended up way longer than expected because I didn't want it to be some curb-stomp that would be disrespectful to Cecilia's skill. Next up, I'll chase up a bit on certain plotlines left hanging on Cecilia, Kanzashi, Ran... and maybe throw in a Lavenza vs Ichika fight of cataclysmic proportions. Thanks for your support! I hope I'll be able to do justice/make sure that all the harem-metes don't devolve into raging Tsun/Yandere's. **  
**

 **First Flight: Just You and Me**

 **April 6th, 20XX (Saturday)**

"Huh? What do you mean you don't want to use my cool gun that can fire Cryo-bullets?"

"Umm, Orimura-kun… I appreciate the thought but, umm, don't you have a fight to prepare for yourself? Rather than giving such a weapon to me… it would be better if you used for yourself. Besides! I've had enough of relying on your generosity."

Ichika internally groaned as he inspected the shy girl meekly and awkwardly refusing this extra weapon. Even after he installed the 'add-on' to the Byakushiki's Yukihira, she still had reservations in getting help.

"Look, Kanzashi-san… all the government wants is to see if they can get the One-Off ability to activate with just the First Shift. Think of it this way, if it activates and you win, then you can do whatever you want later! Make your own IS? Sure you would sound a little ungrateful, but they'll be too busy patting themselves on the back for finishing their experiment. Really, if it's just for this fight you can rely on me a little, right?"

"... Can I? Can I really?"

"Yup!"

'Yeah, it's best to be optimistic that the Japanese Government will giver her more leeway once this One-Off ability testing is over and done with!' Ichika nodded in a satisfied manner.

'H-he'll let me rely on him?! Well, I really shouldn't since Onee-san doesn't but if it's just a little…' Kanzashi was also happy for an entirely different matter, looking downwards while smiling to herself demurely.

Neither of them were on the same page, but that didn't matter when it came to deciding on weaponry.

Ichika used his data gathering tools to invade Kanzashi's privacy *cough*, investigate her interests and found that she liked those old Sentai anime, so he decided to propose a different option.

Normally he would simply call them impractical but… it was nostalgic.

To think that she would be a fan of that same show back then… haa, because of that, he didn't have it in him to half-ass it.

"A utility belt?"

"Yeah, I can think of a lot of gadgets I can fit in with the current chemicals and materials I had left over from finishing up my weapons."

"Y-you already finished them? All by yourself?"

"Well… all but the most important one. I have the energy blade sorted out, the particle cannon that the Shiroshiki used to have is… that's a surprise. In any case, let's discuss strategy. I'll make some regular sized versions for training later on."

"Torture?! I mean, T-training?"

Lots of work and training was done that Saturday. Ichika had to discreetly use some weakened Diarahan's to help Kanzashi keep up with his 'dodging' training.

Kanzashi now knew the fine art of 'not standing still in fear of an incoming attack' and 'dodging', the hard way.

Ichika lamented that she couldn't use her small size to her advantage in an IS, honestly, he would have taught her some martial arts emphasizing skill if the IS suit wasn't so stupidly huge unlike his Shirokishi.

* * *

 **April 7th, 20XX (Sunday)**

Kanzashi didn't care if she were to win or lose at this point.

Cadet Representative training was a joke compared to what Orimura-kun was putting her through.

She was considering just forfeiting but then Orimura-kun would think of her as weak and ungrateful, so she pressed on and hoped that this will be over soon.

While she was groaning on her workshop chair, Ichika was laughing maniacally in his own workshop.

"Since time immemorial, no one had ever stood in the heavens. Nowadays, women may fly their way up to there. That's acceptable, let them have their wings. I will stick to my legs, they can keep their gender exclusive flying privileges. But from this day forth, I will stand in Heaven."

 **[Statement. This unit has diagnosed the subject with 'Chuunibyou'.]**

"Shush now! I'm monologuing… oh, right? IS's names are based on their frames right? That means you either accept a name or name yourself."

 **[Affirmative. That is accurate.]**

"Go onto the internet and log into my digital manga account, read everything and come up with your own name for your First Shift. We need to be the most unique IS and IS Pilot ever by having different model names."

Ichika savored a minute of rest before going doing a bit more testing and work. At night, he swapped with his inflatable dummy and went onto palace infiltrations, Memento's and leaving Calling Cards at various individual's homes.

And the last calling card for the night…

"Ichika, are you fucking serious? She'll put the clues together for sure." Dan questioned Ichika's decision in placing a calling card in the bedroom of Cecilia Alcott.

"Oh, I know. But I want the benefit of a psychological advantage for tomorrow and also… we need to show that the Phantom Thieves also work for ordinary people too, in small ways… besides, she's a victim too." Ichika gave his answer as he recalled some information he got from the Shadows in the British government.

"Wasn't sneaking into hospitals to heal people without limbs or nigh-incurable diseases more than enough to prove it? Look, I know you want to help her out in that, but I think you're letting personal feelings for your classmate into this."

"I know… but even if she could put two and two together, she can't prove it. In addition to that, I've checked out her phone recently and I'm especially uneasy about things."

"Why so?"

'It's because she has the Metaverse Navigator app on her phone."

"?!"

"She hasn't used it or noticed it, but I think there's a reason why Igor's app would suddenly appear there and I asked him about it… he said he wasn't responsible for it, but rather, it's simply fate that's playing it's course. Some mention about some forces working behind the scenes, etc…"

"Usual cryptic bullshit?"

"Yup, usual cryptic bullshit."

Ichika affirmed Dan's conclusion before continuing on with their work, as per usual, he went and made out with his sister behind his back.

* * *

 **April 8th, 20XX (Monday)**

Houki typed the numbers on the access module to Ichika's workshop given by her childhood friend earlier on.

She had expected a more secure password, but apparently he decided to use a temporary one just for her access.

"0707… eh, isn't that…"

'My Birthday date?' She thought to herself as she related the numbers to the 7th of July.

It was likely a one-time use password, but it brought a small smile to Houki's slightly flushed face as she revelled in the fact Ichika used such a romantic way to tell her that he remembered her birthday.

She was immediately beset by a bout of embarrassment when she realised she had a stupid look on her face as she was entering Ichika's workshop.

Thankfully for her, Ichika wasn't facing her at this point.

She stared straight into the centre of the room where there was an out of place looking desk and leather chair situated in the middle of the workshop.

The chair spun slowly, revealing Ichika who was stroking an absolutely ADORABLE stuffed toy cat.

"I've been expecting you." He said menacingly, although the adorable orange stuffed cat destroyed the effectiveness of the dark amusement on his face.

"...I-Ichika, why do I get the sense that you just wanted to say those words."

"How could I not? It's fascinating… the feeling of turning to face an expected guest in an expensive chair like an evil mastermind. Of course, the evil part is not applicable, but I find it calming in that sense."

"Should you really be wasting time on such frivolous matters when you should be preparing for your match?"

Houki found herself saying it in a strict manner, much too stern for her liking but she was very much distracted by the toy cat and a number of other factors that made her resort to such a tone.

"Haha, my preparations are already complete. All that's left is for me to observe and cheer on Kanzashi in her match before my match takes place." Ichika laughs confidently before tossing Houki the stuffed cat.

Houki certainly did not leap for it and snuggled her face into it.

Of course, Ichika's pictures taken on his phone would beg to differ, but Houki would keep denying it so.

"... Do you wish to keep it?" Ichika finally asked after Houki had more than her fair share of cute cat toy hugging.

Houki looked at him before suddenly turning away sharply as her face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Haha, well Kanzashi's match has already started. I set up some 'Go Go Kanzashi!' holographic banners all over the audience areas earlier on. I wonder if she's saw them?" Ichika wondered to himself as he watched the screen of Kanzashi's and Cynthia's fight.

* * *

Kanzashi would say that there are currently three things that are making her seriously consider forfeiting the match and hiding under her blanket instead of fighting.

One of those things were the utterly embarrassing holographic banners made by her friend scattered around the audience areas.

They were colourful pictures with stock cheering phrases, but the embarrassing part were the pixelated and chibi anime style drawings of Honne, Ichika and herself being part of those images.

She thought that Ichika made her look too 'kawaii' in his digital drawings, Honne looked cuter than usual but Ichika's anime bishounen looks that he drew himself with her very distracting.

The second thing that made her want to drop everything was her … sister.

 _ **"Go Kanzashi Go! Go Kanzashi Go!**_

 _ **Fight, Fight. Fight!"**_

Her older sister, the Student Council President, was in an American cheerleader's outfit cheering for her on the side, waving pom-poms around and kicking her long legs up in a short skirt.

Honne and her older sister Utsuho Nohotoke were apparently roped into being willing and unwilling cheerleaders respectfully as well.

Why couldn't her sister just leave her alone? Did it look like she needed her stupid support?!

If anything, her cheering was distracting the crowd and made them stare at her sister instead of even watching her fight with Cynthia!

Even now, her sister just HAD to have the spotlight to herself!

Kanzashi's anger had to be put on hold as she dodged Cynthia'a red and white IS's dreadful weapon not-a-second too soon.

The last reason why she wanted to just give up already was the fact that Cynthia's IS, the Red Cross Subjugator version 3.2, had this absolutely terrifying dual CHAINSAW weapons.

Kanzashi felt as if she was stuck in a horror movie, being chased by a demented killer lady dyed with blood (of course the Swiss girl just had to have a red IS) with a noisy scary weapon that could eviscerate Kanzashi with no effort were it not for the energy shield of an IS.

"AHAHA! Come back here you little midget! Let me slice you right up!"

"How the hell did you ever pass your psychological examinations!?"

Kanzashi screamed as she pushed her Byakushiki's boosters harder to just barely dodge the cross slash of the chainsaw blades by flying upwards.

'To think that she was so polite and nice before fighting… never judge a book by it's cover.' Kanzashi lamented while trying to find the right circumstance to enact the plan she prepared.

With the tools in the IS sized utility belt that Ichika made, Kanzashi was sure she could get the opening needed once the Byakushiki finally entered it's First Shift… well, she'll also need the Yukihira's One-Off Ability to actually work if she wanted to win but one step at a time she supposed…

While she couldn't install additional equipment onto the Byakushiki due to the lack of expansion slots, simply carrying Ichika's yellow coloured utility belt around the 'waist' of the IS wasn't out of the question.

Kanzashi swiftly dodged to the left, changing her direction and flew downwards, once again narrowly dodging another attack by the dual chainsaw user.

A quick check through Byakushiki's sensors show that the blades now had energy coursing through with each revolution, Cynthia's blades were now getting deadlier.

What ensured was pretty much an aerial chase where Kanzashi dodged every melee attack that the Swiss Cadet Representative launched against her, the blonde girl's maniacal laughter began to slow down before coming to an abrupt stop.

Kanzashi had so far avoided being hit even once thanks to Ichika's tortu-training schedule which involved lots of dodging.

Truth to be told, she felt that Ichika's strikes and attacks were way faster than weapon attacks from an IS.

Melee attacks were certainly as swift as skilled martial artists and definitely had a lot more power than what an ordinary person could throw around, but in terms of the speeds that Ichika had gotten her used to? It was rather ordinary.

The main complications were the 3 Dimensional flight manoeuvres and speeds, but Kanzashi swore that Ichika moved at speeds that she could barely perceived!

At a large but enclosed space as the arena, there was no lack of space, however, attempting to accelerate and go beyond sub-sonic speeds had lots of disadvantages.

For one thing, even the most advanced Hyper-sensors attached to an IS would barely allow a pilot to react to speeds approaching 500km/hr, which is around 139 meters a second, and only 0.4 or 40% of the speed of sound.

Going at that speed will require acceleration, and would also result in Kanzashi hitting the arena's shield barriers surrounding the audience, the diameter of the arena and the height limit. (Obviously no one would allow an IS to bombard the academy by accident from a high altitude during an intense fight)

It would be a speed that would be faster than the eye could see, it would also be one where IS pilots would end up doing stupid things and mistiming everything.

Just because an IS can reach up to Mach 2 doesn't mean it should do so during an IS to IS fight in an enclosed area.

"Hwahhh… wow, you certainly have lasted quite a while Kanzashi-san." Cynthia politely complimented Kanzashi even as she hovered above the Byakushiki that was currently staying close to ground level.

"Is that so?" Kanzashi muttered to herself, not sure how to react to that.

"Well, not many would keep their composure and avoid making mistakes when a raving madwoman is chasing them with chainsaw's, correct?"

"Huh?"

"It was an act of course, a really therapeutic one, I might add. But alas, you were a good opponent so I'll tell you this little secret… the Red Cross Subjugator is an IS meant for mid-ranged suppression fire."

"Eep!" Kanzashi yelped, wishing for a bit of help from Ichika about right now as Cynthia stored the chainsaws and brought out two giant machine guns that shot out energy bullets.

'What happened to Switzerland being a neutral country!? This IS is not representative of the country's diplomacy!" Kanzashi complained in her head as she dodged the hails of bullets by weaving around the arena with her boosters keeping her near the ground level, swiftly dodging and skating around the ground like an ice skater on air.

"Hmm, if you're just going to stick to the ground and dodge it'll be too difficult to hit you from up here. Wait for me Honey! I'm coming down to get you~"

Kanzashi felt a chill running down her spine at her opponents tone, she had a feeling her body was in danger somehow and promptly began planning how to win this fight.

She didn't attempt to fly into the air even if she could dodge easier as she needed to be around the ground level for her plan to work.

'All right, she's swapping to one chainsaw and one machine gun so this is my best chance!' Kanzashi resolved herself and had took hold of one of the yellow 'packs' attached to her belt.

Just as she did so, a green message bar appeared in her vision just as a bright light briefly emanated from her IS.

First Shift.

No longer was the Byakushiki extremely bulky was now sleeker with polished curves and sharp edges.

"You were using the factory settings all this time?!"

Kanzashi's response to her opponent's surprise was a smile of gleeful anticipation.

She always wanted to do this.

She flew backwards and threw the pack to the ground as Cynthia was chasing after her, tanking a small amount of bullet fire while doing so.

"Samurai Black Bubblegum Bomb!" The blue-haired girl hammed it up as she shouted those words, activating the voice command functions of the 'pack'.

It would be too unwieldy to use complex manual triggers in order to activate the 'packs' in her utility belt due to the IS's size, so Ichika installed voice command activations into them.

Kanzashi timed it perfectly so that it would activate just as the Red Cross Subjugator would fly right over it.

The pack exploded upwards, revealing dozens rubbery black marble sized balls that stuck themselves to Cynthia's IS.

The black balls began to expand over time, inflating themselves and acted as a super adhesive that began to lock Cynthia's movements.

Those that managed to attached themselves to the Swiss representatives boosters began absorbing the heat and energy emitted, blocking her ability to fly and move.

"W-what?! What is this disgusting thing!"

"Direct that question to Ichika."

Kanzashi was not idle as Cynthia made some slow progress using her chainsaw to free herself, those bubbles were rather durable but had a time limit as a drawback.

She needed to finish this quickly.

She took out two additional packs from the utility belt.

Sometimes she felt as if Ichika watched Samurai Flamenco due to the oddly familiar Sentai-hero like naming of the tools he gave her.

It was certainly something she enjoyed very much off.

"Samurai Flash-Light Pen! Samurai Smoking Chaff Confetti!"

For a moment, she felt like one of those Super Sentai heroes that she had always loved to watch.

She closed her eyes briefly as one of the packs exploded into light, blinding her opponent while the other pack blew up into black smoke that covered the area Cynthia was stuck in, and in that smoke, silver strips of metal could be seen hovering around the area.

Ichika based the last pack from the Chaff Grenades used in the Metal Gear series. Where in the game it was a non-lethal weapon that scatters a cloud of metal strips when detonated, scrambling nearby electronic devices.

When surrounded by unmanned weapons, a chaff grenade can turn the tables in an instant. The chaff can also temporarily block the user's own radio and sensor signals, and also that off the opponents.

In this case, Ichika upgraded them to specialized miniature devices in the form of strips that would disrupt the sensors of an IS by blocking the electromagnetic signals around an area.

It wouldn't be useful when it covered only a small area in most cases, but in this case where Kanzashi had disabled Cynthia by sticking her to the ground earlier? It was absolutely optimal.

At that very moment, Kanzashi's opponent could not see, sense or move.

Taking out the Yukihira blade, that had upgraded itself to Yukihira Niigata, the energy blade shone with a bright blue energy indicating that it's Barrier Void ability was active as the Fold-Out armor had expanded outwards revealed the blade.

Kanzashi rushed into the smoke cloud, activating Ichika's final add-on to the blade's hilt, a simple miniature device that ignited a controlled explosive propellent that would explode outwards in a specific direction without damaging her equipment, speeding up her sword swing by a significant amount.

She swung the sword as sped right through the smoke cloud, the arena's display showing that her opponent's shield energy had reached zero.

A loud noise rang through the air.

"That's the end of the match. Winner, Kanzashi Sarashiki."

The announcer declared as Kanzashi finished the battle in an instant right after attaining the First Shift.

The smoke had cleared behind her, showing that the black bubbles had popped by themselves and that Cynthia wasn't particularly worse for wear.

"Oh? I lost? Well, that's that then." The blonde shrugged, not particularly caring about her loss too much.

Kanzashi was a bit conflicted on that, she had taken it seriously as even a single loss would mean she'll be just that much further from her undeafeatble sister, on the other hand, she barely felt that this match where she had the help of so many people would actually count.

"Good match, let's get along, alright? Class Representative."

'Eh? When did she get out of her IS? Why is she holding up her hand to me?' Kanzashi wasn't so used to such forward behavior aside from Ichika, she dismissed the Byakushiki and meekly shook Cynthia's hand before running away.

She swore that she heard her sister running around the audience area trying to get her attention, but she decided to ignore her and ran towards Ichika's workshop, the door opened by itself to allow her in.

* * *

"Congratulations Kanzashi!"

"Um… It was a glorious battle, although a bit underhanded…"

"Shush now Houki, let's not fuss over little things like 'methods' and all that nonsense."

"When did you begun fighting dishonorably?"

"Since when were you under the impression that I ever had qualms in exploiting someone's weakness in battle?"

"You're incomprehensible."

Ichika and Houki had this sort of rapid-fire exchange as Kanzashi entered the place, she found how comfortable the two of them were with each other rather touching, but it also made her feel restless for some odd reason.

"Umm, Ichika, thank you." She thanked him for his help, at least, she hoped she managed to get those words out as it probably came off as squeaking to herself as she said it so softly.

'Why am I feeling so shy all of a sudden?' She wondered to herself as Ichika seemed to have nodded along as he handed her some refreshing fruit juice.

"Hmm, looks like my match is starting soon. I wonder how long should I make it last?" Ichika scratched his chin as if he's deciding the length of the match not whether irregardless of his chances of winning. "Man, I sure hope I put a good enough performance. I don't think I can really top Kanzashi-san's awesome piloting, through."

"...It wasn't much." She found herself liking the praise, although she didn't outwardly reveled in it outside of the small smile while looking at the floor so that he wouldn't see her flushed face.

"Ichika, what are you watching?" Houki asked as she saw Ichika nodding and smiling with a strange appreciation for whatever video he was watching on his P.A.D.

"Oh, uh, just checking the official camera feeds, good thing my anti-reverse engineering measures seem to have worked because the clean-up crew can't seem to find anything leftover from the utility belt."

"How did you manage that?"

"Nanomachines."

… The two girls just nodded along, nanomachines answered everything.

"... How did you managed to make nanomachines in the short time frame?" Kanzashi asked Ichika, trying to not hide behind the nearest obstacle when Ichika turned to look at her.

"Oh, I already started making them years ago. I just snuck some into the academy and it worked, go figure." He gave his explanation that was somewhat bullshit.

Ichika tapped his P.A.D. a little before his eyes widened in surprise, and immediately went ahead with downloading and watching a certain video with rapt attention.

"Ichika, what are you watching now?" Houki dared to ask again, this time with a sigh while sighing and stroking the cat plushie at the same time.

"...I didn't think we had a cheerleader squad…" Ichika muttered, paying especially close attention to the older Sarashiki and the two Nohotoke's… completely bewildered in the fact that there would be a cheer squad in the IS Academy.

'Weird, one would think there would be no need for such skimpy uniforms that borderline on cosplay in this women-only school… Honne seems to enjoy it enough, ah well. I may as well send this to Dan.' As a good bro should, he shared the video with Dan over the internet.

"What is the purpose of cheerleaders? I don't recall such an occupation." Houki, with her warrior like mentality and upbringing, had no clue what the duty entailed.

Kanzashi nearly dropped her glass of juice.

Subconsciously shocked, she didn't want to believe it.

The Ichika Orimura, the sole male IS pilot that had hardly ever paid particular attention to what Kanzashi thought were the more attractive students in the academy, the gentlemanly Ichika that she knew-

-Did even he, fall prey to her sister's charms? Her perfect appearance, outstanding brain, athletic ability that far surpasses an ordinary person, the charisma that locks the hearts of many in. And all that through a single video in one of her more zany moments?

She found herself trembling, she wanted to run away, just ignore and pretend that she didn't see such a sight.

'Why, why do I want to get away?'

She didn't think or knew that Ichika became one of the people she didn't expect or want to ever have such a reaction or impression of her sister just like everyone else.

What she did know, or thought she knew was that Ichika's interest might shift from the 'uninteresting, shy, powerless Sarashiki' to the 'perfect, capable, charismatic and beautiful Sarashiki'.

"I wonder if any of these girls are Dan's type?" Ichika suddenly commented.

"-Eh?!" Kanzashi ended up exclaiming suddenly.

Ichika looked at her, smiled and explained. "Oh right, Dan's one of my best friends. He's like a brother to me… and maybe he might be my brother in law…" Ichika muttered the last bit quickly and softly while looking away, thinking of the unfortunate implications and the possibility of a 22 Jump Street Captain-like reaction to sleeping with Ran would befall upon him should such a thing come to pass.

"Anyway, I just realised the cheer squad of three girls are roughly around his type of uh… rather blessed girls… although they would probably fall under different archetypes according to his video game tropes that he uses as reference."

"What's a Trope?" Houki asked, not understanding what Ichika implied by 'blessed' and so wasn't mad at all. Ichika went ahead and explained what a Trope was for Houki.

Meanwhile, Kanzashi found herself letting out a sigh of relief, she kept to a corner and simply tried to tell herself that Ichika wasn't interested in her sister and other reassurances.

She silently leaned at the corner and placed a hand to her chest, wondering why she was so much happier that her worries from before were hopefully proven wrong.

'I'm weird… this is weird...Why?'

Their relaxed conversation came to an end when the announcements began anew, Ichika noted that the audience was a bit different in terms of composition.

Namely, there were the engineers from Kuromochi's company had left as they had finished watching the fight involving the Byakushiki. (They would examine the data gathered later, Kanzashi came to Ichika's workshop partly to return the utility belt, after all) In their place, were a couple of foreign looking diplomats and Kuromochi Hiro.

'Hmm, so that means the fact that it's the Shirokishi had been shared discreetly, huh?' Ichika mused.

"Well then, Houki, I'm off."

"O...Okay… you better win!"

"Kanzashi, let's celebrate together later on, okay?"

"Y-yes!"

Houki wished him luck as Kanzashi waved him off…

"Eh?!" They both exclaimed together as they saw Ichika running towards the hangar exit without his IS on his body.

The thing is... the IS hangar is rather large to allow for multiple deployments, and it is also 15 meters off the arena grounds…

* * *

Cecilia Alcott had been highly disturbed since her morning had began.

A metal card had been lodged into the top part of her expensive imported bed!

It had a strange logo with words in English written on the red and black colored card.

 _ **"Miss Cecilia Alcott,**_

 _ **A victim of conspiracy whose heart has been clouded by ill-founded vanity, we have decided to shake your worldview of your abilities, of men, of your country and of the value of individuals. We will steal the pride in your heart without fail.**_

 _ **From, The Phantom Thieves of Hearts."**_

"What… what is this drivel! How did this trash find it's way into my room?! That's it! Security…!" Cecilia complained to the academy's security team, asking for anyone that snuck into her room.

There were absolutely no signs of anyone entering or being in her room other than herself after she chased off her previous roommate.

She managed to get some explanations about the 'Calling Card' she received by the staff that had been keeping up with the apparent rumours of an international group claiming that they would 'steal' the hearts, treasures and all sorts of things of 'sinners' and such… apparently criminals ended up confessing their crimes and attributing their change of hearts to the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

Apparently, even terminally ill patients, people that have lost limbs, and other diseased people had received calling cards with a simpler message, that the Phantom Thieves will be taking their 'infirmities'.

Those people found themselves completely healed and healthy at some point, leading many to affirm the existence of these Phantom Thieves as benevolent saviors that were changing the world.

Of course, most of the world think it's some sort of high tech conspiracy involving 'Nanomachines'.

Such Memes were spread by Ichika and his crew themselves as a means to throw everyone off their methods.

Also, because Ichika remembered Kojima's 'Nanomachines, Son.' line from Metal Gear Revengeance when he fought Senator Armstrong with Raiden.

Not that Cecilia or anyone else knew that.

Due to the calling card, Cecilia had been ruminating over such a thing the entire day and was deeply troubled over it.

The Phantom Thieves had so far been 'right' about many of the things they claimed… so the 'victim of conspiracy' and the talk about her views of her own country were troubling her.

She resolved to put it at the back of her mind, insisting it was nonsense, but it still bugged her incessantly.

She was currently airborne, her Blue Tears equipped on her body, waiting for her opponent to show up.

When it was his turn to reveal himself from the hangar, she, and by extension the rest of the audience were stunned to see a white blur running past and jumping off the ledge of the runway!

Ichika proceeded to perform several acrobatic spins before landing hard on the ground while slamming his fist into the arena grounds, shattering the earth around him.

'How is he not the slightest bit injured by a jump from that height?! Why hasn't he equipped his IS yet? Wasn't he supposed to have a personal IS?'

Ichika looked up, waved towards Cecilia before holding up his left hand, a silver white ring shone brightly as Ichika snapped his fingers together, his IS appearing around his body.

His unit was covered in platinum armor resembling a medieval knight, his face covered by a very familiar visor...

The unit was barely larger than Ichika's body, barely covering him.

Unlike the bulkier IS's where they could sit into them, where the limbs and legs were much larger and were extension to the pilot's own limbs… Ichika's unit had none of that.

The IS started as an exoskeleton meant for outer-space exploration, and Ichika just took the exoskeleton as the only important part before stripping down the IS so that it looked as if it only accomplished that purpose.

Why was this the impression that everyone had?

It was because Ichika's unit had no wings, no boosters attached to his back, no Passive Inertia Control module attached to his hips that allowed for hovering and easier flight.

All that was to see was a body-sized armour covering the man with a large umbrella-liked weapon slung on his back.

Her Blue Tears immediately went ahead with identifying the unit.

 **[Shirokishi]**

The name could not be mistaken.

The weapon that shook the world, terrorized and awed it at the same time.

To Cecilia and every pilot, it was legendary.

And Ichika had it all this while?

And worse of all… what happened to it's weapons, the energy blade, the particle cannon?

How could Ichika bastardize the IS to the point where the boosters that allowed for flight were nowhere to be seen?

"You...what have you done?"

"Oh, well, I thought it would be only right to let you girls keep the whole flying exoskeleton thing exclusive. I also wanted to try something different so I thought to myself 'Hey, women can soar into the Heavens, so I guess I will have to be satisfied with standing on the Heavens instead.'"

"How absurd! What are you even sayi-"

Her IS warning came too late when a white blur impacted against her left flank, sending her IS flying with such speeds that she ended up crashing against the arena's barrier.

And there he was.

Standing on air.

The Shirokishi, the male pilot in the first widely known IS, was standing in the spot she was hovering over just a moment ago.

There was a dim shimmer of light underneath his two feet.

To everyone else, Ichika reappeared in front of Cecilia in an instant all the way from the ground to the air before swinging his 'umbrella' like a blunt instrument, sending her crashing to the side of the wall, draining her of a few % of shield energy.

Using the shock of such a sudden attack of unprecedented speeds, Ichika quickly threw a canister with his insane strength until it collided with the upper limit of the barrier, releasing its contents into the arena. Only his older sister noticed it while everyone else was concentrating on different matters.

'Alright, all there is to do is to stall. It shouldn't be visible or detectable until later on…'

"To be fair, I gave a pretty obvious warning with the wave." Ichika conversationally filled the silence as he took a step to the side whilst still airborne and casually evaded a large laser beam directed to his head.

Having faced Shadows that could instantly destroy areas from a simple building, streets, towns and continent through all sorts of attacks, dodging laser beams were no big deal to him.

"Don't think getting the first strike means anything! Your close ranged… weapon won't even touch me, to challenge me in a long-ranged type suit with that thing would be the height of absurdity!"

Cecilia shelved the questions that she had over the suit, over his capabilities and over the strangeness of his weapon in order to focus entirely on winning.

So she fired, she fired her Blue Pierce, the medium-range laser rifle, repeatedly and without mercy.

Ichika had an easy and comfortable smile (not that she could see his expression through the visor) on his face as he dodged each blast with only the bare minimum of distance and movements required by running on the air.

"Huh? You're pretty serious about this Miss Cecilia Alcott." Ichika commented leisurely as he dived and slid on the air, light forming on his heels as hid began sliding through the air as if there was an invisible slide beneath his feet.

"Oh dear, you seem to be mistaken if you believe I have gone all out on the likes of you." Cecilia arrogantly retorted even as she was getting infuriated internally.

She wanted to play around with him at first, but despite the narrow dodges he was using, she could see that he wasn't trying that hard and only evaded in such a way that made it 'look' close.

Holding back to that extent… it made her angry that he was doing such a thing! It angered her as he acted as if he needed to hold back against her! Her pride wouldn't stand for this insult.

Worse yet, the man could easily close the distance between the two of them yet he focused on evasion. Annoying…

She brought out her four orbital drones and focused most of her neural bandwidth on controlling them remotely, blasting him with the four mobile laser drones.

A smirk appeared on his face as he begun putting in significant effort to dodge.

"That's right! Dance you Asian monkey! Dance to the waltz that Cecilia Alcott and Blue Tears are playing!" She declared with glee as Ichika began running and bouncing on his short-lived platforms of light that appeared whenever he wanted to take a step.

'Even so… how can he move so quickly?! It's the large parts of an IS that gives it's user strength so why… why can he move faster than the Byakushiki from the last match?' Cecilia's mind began to drift as her serious attempts at tagging him with her lasers still seemed to fail.

"Wait a second, what's wrong with your shield? Those lasers were too close to your head to have not been blocked." Cecilia asked, curious if he'll indulge her.

He grinned (through she couldn't see it) as he continued dodging her relentless attacks.

"Hmm, that shield that covers way too much of the body for my liking? I modified that as well. Now the energy shield is projected just half a centimeter outside my body and the IS."

"That's…! That's madness! The shield is spherical and has distance from the pilots to dampen the impact of the damage taken. If you receive any one of my blasts now you could-"

"Be seriously hurt, I get it. But for me, living my life on a razor's edge is just the way I like it!"

Back in the command room, Chifuyu mumbled "He's my brother alright…" while shaking her head, halfway disapproving and partially thinking back to her own absurdly dangerous manoeuvres whilst the audience was flabbergasted at the Ichika's insanity.

"You're mad. Don't think I'll show any mercy just because you made yourself more vulnerable."

"Cecilia… I'm touched that you care so much of my well being."

"W-what?! That's nonsense!"

Ichika had modified his shield in this way so that he will have a larger window to dodge attacks without receiving any shield damage, and also because his body was tough enough to handle the impact of most weapons without the need for the barrier to dampen it.

The bombardment continued to have no effect and Cecilia decided to ask more questions seeing as he was quite open with answers.

"How are you even stepping in the skies, for that matter?"

"Do you recall that an IS can retrieve weapons that's installed while moving?"

"And why exactly is that relevant?"

"An IS anchor's the 'information' to the desired manifestation point before the weapon materializes when doing so, in this case, it locks the 'coordinates' of the 'space' relative to the position of the area desired. If you want a gun to appear in your left hand, then the IS would 'lock' a specific area a certain distance from your left hand to materialize the weapon in it. Are you following?"

"That is… an excellent insight, but I fail to see how that explains your capabilities."

"It explains everything. What I'm doing is simply plucking out a step in the equation and applying it to combat. Why don't you try figuring it out from there?"

"... Impossible… you're anchoring the space beneath your feet?!"

Cecilia's deduction got his confirmation through a nod, driving the engineers crazy due the fact that a high school boy (who was a genius in his own right) managed such a feat.

"That's certainly one of the ways I'm using it…" He said, implying that he had other tricks up on his sleeves related to that. "I did have to use an expansion slot and modify some parts for it to be used as effectively as this. Although, manipulating space is only the first step…"

And as he said those words, his figured blurred as he sped up considerably and began moving in curves before reappearing behind Cecilia, slamming his umbrella into her shield once again.

Even as she was sent tumbling to the shield wall, she managed to attempt an attack on him, not that it even grazed him, but he found her concentration impressive nonetheless.

"The second step is altering my personal gravitational field in order for me to run and slid in whatever angle and direction I please. Now, would you like to hear about my 'Umbrella' as well?"

It pained Cecilia on the inside to even need such an advantage of knowing all there is to know about her opponent, but at this point she had little choice if she wanted to win.

'When was I placed in such a position to be the underdog!? I've been training for years and this man is just… just spectacular. Huh? Why am I complimenting him? No, silly thoughts!' She shook her head to concentrate on her attacks, and as expected, he began explaining his weapon while dodging.

"You see, there's this animation done by China called The King's Avatar or Quán Zhí Gāo Shǒu. It's a story where a MMORPG-"

"What's an MMORPG?"

Ichika had to explain the concept to her.

"-where a MMORPG called 'Glory' is not simply the most popular pastime, but also a professional E-sport. This follows a protagonist, Ye Xiu who is THE veteran of the game that's been kicked out by his team and literally thrown into the cold before starting a new character in the newly released tenth server."

After explaining some more concepts, Ichika continued.

"In it, he decided to play a true Unspecialised character. Now, classes are like different classifications of IS's. A Witch or Launcher would be the equivalent of a long-ranged weapon user, a Swordmaster would be the short-ranged weapon expert and so on and so forth. No one in their right mind would play an Unspecialised character as it only has low-mid level skills of every class which would require the changing of weapons regularly to make full use of such variety. The cooldown is the biggest drawback, unless, of course, you had a weapon that could become a different weapon instantly."

Ichika took the 'Umbrella' off his back once again, showing it clearly.

"I made and named this weapon after the armament used by Ye Xiu's Unspecialised character Lord Grim… this is the _**Myriad Manifestation Umbrella**_. By itself, it is capable of assuming 12 different forms of weaponry. The only one I have shown you was it's 'Battle Club' form as a blunt weapon."

' **Myriad Manifestation Umbrella**? What kind of name was that?' Cecilia asked herself.

"That's utter non… you know, I highly doubt you're lying at this point." Cecilia admitted while everyone else was shouting something along the lines of 'Bullshit'.

"How lovely of you to believe me… oh my, it's time."

"What are you talking about? … Is this… snow?"

"Nope, that's Chaff Seed."

Suddenly, Ichika sped after one of Cecilia's drones and stood above it, changing the form of his Myriad Manifestation Umbrella into that of a 'Sword' before slowly bringing it down on the drone.

Cecilia attempted to move the drone, but found that the drone wasn't responding to her attempts!

Ichika sliced one of the drones apart and stepped to the next closer drone, changing the form of his weapon to that of a 'Battle Lance'.

He leisurely pierced right through the optical drone before changing his weapon to that of a multi-bladed morning star, which he launched at another drone further away from him.

Panicking, Cecilia began shooting with her rifle to stop him, but it was too late as he changed his weapon once again, pointed his 'Umbrella' while dodging and fired a laser from the tip of his weapon as if it were a Laser Rifle.

All four of her Optical Drones destroyed without a fight.

"H-how?! What kind of trick is this?!"

"Trick? I assure you it is no trick. In fact, you've seen this before in the last match, did you not?"

"... The Smoking Chaff Confetti!"

"That's correct. From the beginning of the match I unleashed a canister of hundreds of these miniature devices that slowly descended down from the sky to the point where it covered enough of the area around us to disrupt the neural connection between your Blue Tears and it's optical drones by scrambling all the electromagnetic waves present around us."

She was shocked. He had planned such a thing from the very beginning? Was it a part of his plan or just a convenient effect of preparing for some function of her IS being dependent on such a connection with her drones?!

Her mind raced to figure out what had just happened before she gave into a bit of her frustrations and started blasting lasers at him once more.

"You rely on cheap tricks! You… How dare you embarrass me to this extent?" She yelled.

"… And here I thought I was being really nice back then." Ichika answered her in a confused manner.

"Are you a simpleton?! How can you possibly see what you did as 'nice'!"

This time, Ichika replied calmly, unnerving her quite a bit.

"You still don't get it? I went through all the trouble to create a specific and situational counter to your biggest advantage… If I were in your situation I would have been honored!"

"…What?!"

"If I were you, I wouldn't be in such poor spirits. You deemed yourself to be one of the elites of the elites, now imagine… the sole male IS Pilot feared your power so greatly that he saw fit to strip you of half of it. Could anything be more satisfying?"

His words halted her train of thought for the moment, it was only after spending a few seconds processing his words until she began to see it from his perspective.

In a way, it reminded her of Tennis.

During her younger days, she used to watch the Wimbledon Finals with her parents, and for all his faults, her father was at the very least a decent sports commentator.

If she were to use a Tennis analogy, she would compare herself with an Aggressive Baseliner, a player that likes to control and dictate the play of the game, which compares well with her methods of decimating and controlling her enemies using long-range attacks…

Then Orimura Ichika would be the Counterpuncher, the type that is patient and tough enough outlast their opponents until they make a mistake.

The fact that he took his time meant he was cautious about her, which she found to be rather flattering.

Then again, he was probably more than that considering how he was in control of the fight all this time.

"Enough… you didn't even need to do such a thing, did you? You could have destroyed my Blue Tear's drones whenever you wanted. You may as well just cut me down right here."

At Cecilia's response, Ichika chuckled lightly.

"And what is so funny…?"

"Oh, nothing really. I was just wondering if you believed I am so foolish as to step to let my guard down by walking to a place where you may blast me with your hidden weapons."

"!? How did you…!"

"Please Miss Cecilia Alcott… the methods you have used in this battle is a testament to your effort, it is also the equivalent how many hopes you have left. The Cecilia Alcott I know wouldn't hold a man such as I in such esteemed as to believe that I can finish the battle whenever I want."

"Tch…How maddening..."

"Even so, I suppose it is my duty to crush all of your tricks and weapons. So please, prepare yourself to attack me." As he said those words he was instantly in front of Cecilia who was now close to ground level at this point. "Go on, it's about time-"

The skirt-shaped like armor spread from Cecilia's abdomen, and those parts that suddenly rose up started to move in response to his presence.

"Have some missiles you _dorbel_!" Cecilia insulted in Old English as the target seeking missiles began accelerating towards Ichika.

"- I entered First Shift."

An explosion of light occurred at the moment before multiple while blurs began covering the battlefield, the target seeking missiles flew across the arena at insane speeds, however, their target's speed had reached a level that was simply out of this world at this point.

"You were in the default settings the entire time?! You had the choice to go into First Shift? Does every Japanese person here fight in factory settings until later in their matches?!" Cecilia yelled, referencing Kanzashi as the other Japanese person that fought in a similar fashion.

Ichika began to reply her through the rapid after images that occasionally passed by her.

"To be fair, even I didn't expect I could move fast enough after getting rid of the boosters. It just worked well enough to give you a fair fight so I stuck with it, but then I figured you'll be insulted if I didn't went all out."

And then Ichika ran towards the missiles, slicing the both of them with his Umbrella in Sword form so quickly while running past them faster than the ensuing explosion before stopping in front of Cecilia Alcott.

"A curious thing about the space manipulation thing, it gets rid of those pesky loud sonic booms… who knew?"

"..." Cecilia had contemplating just surrendering but even so…

To Cecilia, who had always believed that she would win, and would constantly strive for it. She couldn't do anything else but continue on that path.

"Your pride won't allow this to end here, right?"

"Yeah… I'm giving it my all. You can run circles around me, use whatever fancy weapon or tricks but even if I'm reduced to this one weapon, I'll still keep fighting!"

And as she finished those words, her Laser Rifle was unceremoniously cut into pieces right in front of her through Ichika's rapid lightning fast slashes.

"..."

"..."

"Will you still keep fighting? Even now?"

"...I...I have no chance in close combat so I'll…"

"I wasn't asking you to surrender!" Ichika increased the volume of his voice, sounding commanding for the first time in the fight.

"Wha-?!"

"I'm asking you now if your pride is worth fighting for even if you believe you have zero chance of winning, answer me!"

'The answer to that question… isn't that… could she even say yes in this sort of situation?'

"..." She didn't know what to answer after such a showing.

"Cecilia Alcott... If your life was on the line, would you struggle to the bitter end?"

"Are you stupid? Don't be ridiculous, of course I would."

Now that question, she certainly could answer without hesitation.

As she answered him, Ichika lowered his blade and removed his visor, revealing a slightly blood-stained forehead.

"... I see. You really are a strong person, Cecilia."

"Huh?!"

She didn't expect those words from Ichika Orimura in this sort of situation. She felt a strange bewilderment in her heart as those words were spoken.

But there was also the confusion, why was he bleeding?

She hadn't noticed that she ended up voicing her thoughts right then.

"Oh, this? Just a small matter really. I had to really push myself to outrun that explosion, I managed to hurt my head a little. It's kinda silly, huh?"

"Yes… it's so silly… hahaha…"

"Hahaha…"

They ended up sharing a small laugh together.

'So in a way, I managed to land a hit after all… wait a second…'

"Wait! Why are we laughing, you should get that treated!"

He waved it off with an easy expression before giving her a determined smile.

"Relax. I told you, I've been through worse. This is nothing… but thanks for worrying, you're really a nice person, aren't you, Cecilia?"

"W-what are you saying all of a sudden?!" She looked away for a short moment, somehow she felt really shy all of a sudden.

"Ah… right." Ichika dismissed the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella. "I told you didn't I? That I wouldn't fight you with weapons if you didn't have a weapon yourself."

"I don't want a handicap like that!"

"Well, rather than a handicap, I'll like to think of it as fighting on equal terms. I hate war, it has no rules at all, so while I still can… I want to savor friendly fights like this, and I want to have a nice fight with you. You really are tough you know, I don't think I could have beaten you if I used flight and my own laser rifle."

"Well of course you wouldn't! I have been training for years, all you're good at is running around, punching things, swinging your umbrella thing like a barbarian and saying all the right things…"

Her 'insults' were hardly mean-spirited at all this time around, rather, it was of the more comfortable playful type.

"I guess you can say that… haha… so, are you still up to finishing this with some good old _Fisticuffs_?"

"Well, I'll have you know that this lady is certainly capable of engaging in a bit of _Fisticuffs_ should the occasion arise."

 _ **"I am thou, Thou art I…**_

 _ **Thou hast acquired a new vow.**_

 _ **It shall become the wings of revolution**_

 _ **That breaketh the gears of fate.**_

 _ **With the birth of the Lovers Persona,**_

 _ **I have attained the wings of blessing**_

 _ **that shall lead to freedom and new power."**_

"Let's see about that, shall we? Haha… to think that I got you to accept my proposal… guess I managed to steal some of that pride in your heart, eh?"

"Well, perhaps just a teeny bit… huh? Wait, what did you just say-"

Her words were cut short as Ichika launched a straight punch at her torso, her shield defending her at the cost of sending her flying to the other end of the Arena.

At this point, a good portion of the audience was seriously considering this flirting. Houki was practicing swinging one of Ichika's leftover blades in his workshop while Kanzashi's continued to have an 'uneasy' feeling after seeing Cecilia's and Ichika's interaction.

In the end, Ichika won their nice little duel, with Cecilia managing to show off a good throw, until Ichika counter-throwed her in return.

* * *

 **Later that day, Cecila's Bathroom...**

*Drip* *drip* *drip* *drip* *drip*...

There were many things that Cecilia Alcott was proud of, one of those things were her well-proportioned body that was rare among Caucasians and her beautiful streamlines, which to Cecilia, were something worth being proud off.

Though her breasts were a little smaller, compared to other white girls of the same age, it made her body profile stand out even more. Thus, she had some rather complicated feelings because of them. However, that was just for white girls. If they were compared to a Japanese girls, they were more than enough, enough to even be called big.

"Orimura, Ichika..."

What was this feeling, she tried to say his name and she felt her chest heat up all of a sudden.

The hot water that continued to splurt out of the shower head was certainly not the source of this heat.

A week ago, she met Orimura Ichika.

Just today, she got to know Orimura Ichika.

Her heart was pounding without any restraint. Cecilia gently stroked her lips. Touching her wet lips elicited an immodest amount of excitement, this desire…

Ah, that man with such strong-willed eyes and that commanding voice he used whenever he wanted to be firm… she kept on thinking back to such things even as she contemplated his strange sense of fair play, how his small mention of war seemed to hide a greater depth and pain in his heart… all these things stirred her desire to know more about him.

'I want to know. I want to know more about Ichika. This feeling in my chest, I want to know more about it. Why do I feel this way when I think of him?'

Warm and Sweet, Mysterious and Vibrant, a sense of poignancy yet grim determination…

'Ichika… if you had not stolen my heart, then I would have mistaken you for a Phantom Thief. For they only stole my pride but you…'

 **Arcana List**

 **Fool - Orimura Ichika (Nicodemus), Not yet attained.**

 **Magician- Gotanda Dan (Kokuten Hachiman), Rank 10, Maxed**

 **Chariot - Gotanda Ran (Kaihime), Rank 9**

 **Strength - Lavenza, Rank 7**

 **Lovers - Cecilia Alcott, Rank 1**

 **Tower- Kuromochi Hiro, Rank 1**

 **Fortune - Shinonono Houki, Rank 6**

 **Empress- Orimura Chifuyu, Rank 5**

 **Death - Shiroshiki, Rank 1**

 **Priestess - Sarashiki Kanzashi, Rank 3**

 **Alchemy - Nohotoke Honne, Rank 2**


End file.
